Researchers at the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics at Vienna University of Technology (TU) are investigating the effects of the Earth's atmosphere on our planet's shape, its rotation and its gravitational field.

The Earth's atmosphere is not only essential to support human life on Earth; it also affects our planet's shape, its rotation and its gravitational field. The research project "Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) Atmosphere" is a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary study of these complex interrelationships, financed by the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF) [The Austrian Science Fund]. The researchers' aim is to develop a better understanding of the Earth's system and to support the development of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS).

A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution finds that over a third of carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumption of goods and services in many developed countries are actually emitted outside their borders. Some countries, such as Switzerland, "outsource" over half of their carbon dioxide emissions, primarily to developing countries. The study finds that, per person, about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are consumed in the U.S. but produced somewhere else. For Europeans, the figure can exceed four tons per person. Most of these emissions are outsourced to developing countries, especially China.

Scientists broadly agree that global warming may threaten the survival of many plant and animal species; but global warming did not kill the Monteverde golden toad, an often cited example of climate-triggered extinction, says a new study. The toad vanished from Costa Rica's Pacific coastal-mountain cloud forest in the late 1980s, the apparent victim of a pathogen outbreak that has wiped out dozens of other amphibians in the Americas.

Many researchers have linked outbreaks of the deadly chytrid fungus to climate change, but the new study asserts that the weather patterns, at Monteverde at least, were not out of the ordinary.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) – It is blamed for everything from deforestation to threatening the extinction of the orangutan, but palm oil is a vital source of income for many developing countries, the crop's producers say.

In Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, where the plant provides work for three million people, the government is keen to promote the benefits of the crop.

Gatot Irianto, research director at Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture, pleaded with producers, scientists and NGOs meeting on the holiday island of Bali last week to reconsider the plant's reputation.