Days after up to 40,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a broken pipeline, an unknown amount of which ended up in the Yellowstone River, one Montana town downstream from the spill is now under a drinking warning after elevated levels of a cancer-causing chemical were found in the town's drinking supply. , a town of around 6,000 people on the North Dakota border, , after tests on a water treatment plant revealed concentrations of Benzene above limits safe for...

Arctic sea ice is pulling a Benjamin Button. It's been getting younger. But while that's a fate some would relish, it's not necessarily good news for ice, as it's youthful appearance could speed its demise. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released an animation showing the since 1987, the first year for which accurate data is available on ice thickness. It shows a region of change in terms of the long-term trend as well as season-to-season fluctuations. In 1987,...

Hundreds of birds in the San Francisco Bay area have been turning up dead or dying since Friday, coated with a light gray, odorless, gooey substance that scientists still haven't identified. "We've never seen anything quite like it," California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan told the Associated Press. "So it's a mystery for the moment." About 200 birds have been killed by the substance so far, a number that could rise because of the complexity of the...

For the first time in three years, and largely due to climate change, scientists from have moved the time on the so-called Doomsday Clock closer to midnight, signaling that humanity is much closer to a global catastrophe. The clock has been used by the group since 1947 as a metaphor to signal the severity of the threats facing humanity. The closer the clock moves to midnight, the closer mankind is to a potential global catastrophe. Scientists on the Science and...

In the midst of an extreme drought, California's residents know the value of good, clean water. But families in one southern California town were understandably frightened when they turned on a water faucet and black water began flowing out. "It’s disgusting," said Gardena resident Diane Morita in a KTLA.com report. "." (WATCH:) They're being told by the local water company that the sludge is safe to use and even drink, the report added. A spokesperson for the Golden State Water...

The Senate approved the Keystone XL pipeline in a Thursday vote, ruling in favor of building the final piece of the controversial oil-carrying line. It was a bipartisan 62-to-36 vote , according to NPR. It's all but guaranteed that President Barack Obama will veto the bill, and the Senate likely won't have the 67 necessary votes to override the veto. Obama has already said he wouldn't approve any Keystone XL bill until the State Department was finished , Reuters reported....

Parts of Iceland are rising, and the culprit may be climate change. GPS measurements show that land in the central and southern parts of Iceland have been rising at a faster pace every year, beginning at about the same time as the onset of the ever-increasing melt of the island’s eponymous ice due to rising temperatures, a new study finds. “There have been a lot of studies that have shown that the uplift in Iceland is primarily due to ice...

Spiky sea slugs, known as Hopkins' rose nudibranch, are invading northern California's coast in large numbers, and scientists believe changes in the ocean's temperatures are to blame. These flower-like sea slugs, known as Hopkins' rose nudibranch, are appearing in massive numbers in Northern California's waters. (Jeff Goddard/University of California Santa Barbara's Marine Science Institute ) The vibrant, pink sea slugs are common in tide pools near Los Angeles and San Diego, but now as Humboldt County, California. (MORE: ) Researchers...

Pictured is an oil boom barrier that was intended to stop the spread of oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This image was taken on April 30, 2010. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) Scientists recently made a stunning discovery that proves the effects of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill are still widespread in the Gulf of Mexico. During a recent study, as many as 10 million gallons of crude oil from the 210-million-gallon spill . The study was...

A mesmerizing blue light is illuminating Hong Kong’s waters, but the lights aren’t just beautiful. Marine biologists are saying they’re potentially toxic. This stunning light is a strong indicator a harmful algal bloom is present. Noctiluca scintillans, also known as Sea Sparkle, is known to create this type of bloom. Noctiluca is a single-celled organism and a wonder in itself, as it functions as both a plant and animal. The organism can act and look like algae, even though, it...

It's a case of the Hong Kong blues. The sight of the waters off Hong Kong these days can take your breath away. But, the haunting fluorescent blue seas are also deadly dangerous to marine life and potentially to humans. The glow is a kind of red tide that is caused by an algae marine biologists call "sea sparkle," a rare organism that can act both as animal and plant. The algae looks red in the daytime but shows up...

The video above shows aerosol emission and transport from September 1, 2006, to April 10, 2007. Also included are locations, indicated by red and yellow dots, of wildfires and human-initiated burning. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) Humans across the globe are connected now more than ever before; actions taken on one continent can affect people on another. Now, scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology (CIT) are showing this is true even for weather....

Each American eats every year, according to fishwatch.gov. Some of that canned fish is Ahi, which is also known as yellowfin tuna. (MORE: ) But a new study from the University of Michigan may have you re-thinking your next tuna sandwich or salad. Matt Sampson explains. MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Avoid These Fish ...