Science Helpdesk

Earth Knowledge.Environment news portal that draws in news stories about the Earth taken from the world's best scientific and environmental research and news agencies, and plots the information on a map.

Environmental health student portal.Learn about chemicals in the environment, water pollution, air pollution and climate change through this website full of links and resources.

Ecology.To understand the environment, with emphasis on the effects of pollution and the role of conservation on the environment. You can print the lesson text and read a glossary. Interactive lesson at Skoool.co.uk. (N.B.: In case your browser freezes, use Firefox and click on "Block Script" when asked).

Populations.To understand populations and how organisms adapt to survive in a particular habitat. You can print the lesson text and read a glossary. Interactive lesson at Skoool.co.uk. (N.B.: In case your browser freezes, use Firefox and click on "Block Script" when asked).

Biosphere.Very comprehensive article at Encyclopaedia Britannica online on the concept of biosphere, the diversity of Life, resources of the biosphere and environmental conditions.

Flow of energy and elements through the enviroment.Great presentation on trophic levels, food chains, food webs, element cycles, global warming and more.

EPA - Climate change - Kids site.US Environmental Protection Agency presents an easy-to-understand introduction to climate change. With diagrams and animations.

BBC - Climate change.BBC guide to Climate Change: lots of resources that include reviews, analysis, news and more.

Special report: Climate change.New Scientist extensive collection of resources to take you through a deep insight on climate change. To not to get lost, you may want to start with the "Expert guide", the "FAQ" or the "Timeline".

How global warming works.Learn what global warming is, what causes it, what its current effects are and what the future effects could be.

Global warming.Very comprehensive article at Encyclopaedia Britannica online on the concept of global warming, its causes and potential effects, climate research and climate policy.

Climate hot map.Know the global warming effects around the globe, understand how these impacts are produced and learn which actions can be taken to stop them.

Climate change map.This map by New Scientist shows the worlwide rise in temperatures over the last hundred years. A heat map layer displays temperature rises just in the last 20 years. However users can click anywhere on the map to view a graph of recorded temperatures from the nineteenth century.

Earth's changing climate.Two maps from NationalGeographic.com that show how temperatures are rising and how precipitations are dropping out.

Climate change in our world.Google Earth file showing how climate change and global temperature rises could affect our world over the next 100 years.

Wildlife and global warming.Eight animal species to be dramatically impacted by global warming.

Climate challenge.A game where you are president of the European Nations. You must tackle climate change and stay popular enough with the voters to remain in office.

Clim'Way.Another game about helping the community reach some specific climate goals. You have to create a climate plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a certain percentage in a certain time frame. Your plans can include setting up alternative energy sources, reducing human consumption etc.

Will climate change spread disease?A recent study suggesting that climate change might not spread tropical diseases far and wide after all has spurred a hot debate on the topic.

Global warming: Reasons why it might not actually exist.Sceptics have long argued that there are other explanations for climate change other than man-made CO₂ and here we look at some of the arguments put forward by those who believe that global warming is all a hoax.

What happened to global warming?This title may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might the fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998. But it is true.

Climate scepticism: the top 10.What are some of the reasons why "climate sceptics" dispute the evidence that human activities are bringing potentially dangerous changes to the Earth's climate, ant their counter-arguments?

Ozone hole watch.Where you can check on the latest status of the ozone layer over the South Pole.

Water treatment process.Follow a drop of water from the source through the treatment process.

Be hydro-logical.Find out what you can do to help preserve this precious resource.

Go Green: conserve water.Video teaching about how water is wasted and what we can do to prevent this problem in our houses.

Black tides: the worst oil spills in history.Google Earth file showing information about the 50 worst oil spills, from tanker accidents and drilling operations, as well as a number of other notable spills.

Plastic bags a major problem for marine wildlife.A new study by Dalhousie University in Canada sheds light on an alarming threat to marine life and plastic debris.

Tropical rainforests: deforestation.More than 5 million acres of rain forests have been destroyed by logging, urbanization, and highways, harming the intricate balance of the forest and potentially adversely affecting the world's climate.

Pesticides, fertilizers linked to frog decline.You might have heard about the decline in reptiles and amphibians. And news are that this is tightly linked to the human impact on the ecosystems.

Rare species of frog may hold cure to... ah, never mind, it's extinct.Food for thought.

No more fish in the sea.Per capita fish consumption has nearly doubled in the last 50 years. The problem is that there may not be any more fish if we keep catching and consuming them at this rate.

Fuel use of various modes of transportation.Is a plane more efficient than a Prius?

The story of stuff.A 20 minutes long video explaining how a consumerism-based economy is screwing up your life and everyone else's.