Science News

Climate change is pushing some bird species “towards extinction,” US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar warned Thursday as a new report on the threats facing North American birds was released.

Birds that depend upon the ocean for survival “are among the most vulnerable birds on Earth to climate change,” warned the report put together by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in coordination with several environmental groups.

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A group of US lawmakers Thursday urged the US administration to save NASAs Constellation project aimed at returning Americans to the moon in the next generation of space travel.

“It is imperative that the United States remain the worlds leading spacefaring nation,” they added.

“Space exploration has been the guiding star of American innovation,” the lawmakers — 10 Republicans and five Democrats — said in a letter to the NASA administrator Charles Bolden.

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The consortium of agencies building the International Space Station wants to see if the orbital outpost can operate until 2028, the European Space Agency said on Thursday.

“The partnership is currently working to certify on-orbit elements through 2028,” it said.

“There are no identified technical constraints to continuing ISS operations beyond the current planning horizon of 2015 to at least 2020,” it said in a press release after a meeting of ISS partners in Tokyo.

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Oil giant BP said Thursday it will pay US firm Devon Energy $7 billion (4.7 billion) for assets in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the Gulf of Mexico.

“BP today announced a transaction that will deliver a material exploration position in … deepwater offshore Brazil and significantly enhance its position in core strategic areas,” the company said.

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British oil giant BP said Thursday it will pay US firm Devon Energy 7.0 billion dollars (5.1 billion euros) for assets in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the Gulf of Mexico.

“In a broad-ranging deal, BP will pay Devon Energy 7.0 billion dollars in cash for assets in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the US deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

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US investigators launched a probe Tuesday into a runaway Toyota Prius in California, a high-profile case that threatens to undermine the Japanese automakers effort to repair its battered image.

The California Highway Patrol said the terrified motorist was helpless as the car raced along the road at speeds of more than 140 kilometers (90 miles) per hour.

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The United States could source 10 percent of its electricity from solar power by 2030, a report said Tuesday, winning support from a US lawmaker who wants to boost the number of US solar panels.

Sanders praised the report, which said the United States could get 10 percent of its electricity from solar power by 2030, up from just 0.

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President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled plans to give hefty reimbursements to US homeowners who make home improvements designed to conserve energy.

“If a homeowner decides to do work on his or her house — to put in new windows, to replace a heating unit, to insulate an attic, to redo a roof — the homeowner would be eligible for a rebate from the store or the contractor for 50 percent of the cost of each upgrade up to 1,500 dollars,” the president explained in remarks delivered at Savannah Technical College in Georgia.

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A US radar launched into space aboard an Indian spacecraft has detected craters filled with ice on the moons north pole, NASA scientists said Monday.

“Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, its estimated there could be at least 600 million metric tons of water ice,” NASA said in a statement.

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday she is bringing satellite telephones to quake-stricken Chile as the government in Santiago appealed for the first time for international aid.

Clinton, speaking at the start of six-country tour analysts say is aimed at reviving President Barack Obamas flagging engagement with Latin America, welcomed the day of celebration of democratic change in Uruguay, but also marked the tragedy in the nearby Latin American country.

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