Hour after hour, Brian Dunn lofted his fly line into the turquoise-blue water of this shimmering desert lake north of Reno. Finally, just after lunch, his line straightened and a smile spread on his face. Before long, a 6-pound, ...

Biology - Ecology

May 13, 2013 5 / 5 (2) 0

Atmospheric contamination due to heavy metals is currently a severe problem of global proportions, with important repercussions in public health. However, this type of pollution is not a recent fact and can ...

Space & Earth - Environment

Apr 30, 2013 4.6 / 5 (5) 0

(Phys.org) —The Isabella anomaly—indications of a large mass of cool, dehydrated material about 100 kilometers beneath central California—is in fact a surviving slab of the Farallon oceanic plate. Most ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Mar 18, 2013 5 / 5 (7) 4 |

Now's your chance to see the comet that passed within 100 million miles of Earth last week. Twilight on Tuesday will provide the best photo op for the comet called Pan-STARRS. It will be visible in the Northern ...

Space & Earth - Space Exploration

Mar 11, 2013 5 / 5 (5) 0

A survey of bat activity in burned and unburned areas after a major wildfire in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains found no evidence of detrimental effects on bats one year after the fire. The findings suggest that bats ...

Biology - Ecology

Mar 06, 2013 4.5 / 5 (2) 0

One of the driest spots on Earth—the Sahara desert—is increasingly responsible for snow and rain half a world away in the western U.S., a new study released Thursday found.

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Feb 28, 2013 5 / 5 (3) 3

A team of more than a dozen scientists from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest (PSW) and Pacific Northwest research stations, universities and Region 5 Ecology Program recently released a synthesis of relevant science ...

Space & Earth - Environment

Feb 21, 2013 5 / 5 (1) 0

After experiencing years of population decline on the West Coast, a recent study examining fisher populations found that—at least in the southern Sierra Nevada—the animal's numbers appear to be stable.

Biology - Ecology

Jan 28, 2013 not rated yet 0

Agricultural irrigation in California's Central Valley doubles the amount of water vapor pumped into the atmosphere, ratcheting up rainfall and powerful monsoons across the interior Southwest, according to a new study by ...

Space & Earth - Environment

Jan 28, 2013 4.6 / 5 (5) 2 |

Commercial test pilots, not NASA astronauts, will fly the first crewed missions that NASA hopes will at last restore America's capability to blast humans to Earth orbit from American soil – perhaps as early ...

Space & Earth - Space Exploration

Jan 14, 2013 4.8 / 5 (4) 2

Deep in the Sierra Nevada, the famous General Grant giant sequoia tree is suffering its loss of stature in silence. What once was the world's No. 2 biggest tree has been supplanted thanks to the most comprehensive ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Dec 03, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are helping peach growers make the most of dwindling water supplies in California's San Joaquin Valley.

Biology - Other

Nov 21, 2012 not rated yet 0

California isn't going to face a superstorm like Hurricane Sandy because the Pacific Ocean is too cold to feed that kind of weather system.

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Nov 02, 2012 3.4 / 5 (7) 15

In the bird world, they make endangered condors seem almost commonplace. The unique Great Gray Owls of Yosemite, left to evolve after glacial ice separated them from their plentiful Canadian brethren 30 millennia ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Oct 22, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0

Using data collected over the course of seven years, the study looked at DNA in tissue samples collected from 739 mountain lions. In the first-of-its-kind study at this scale, the authors used only the gathered ...

Biology - Ecology

Oct 09, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0