National (U.S.)

"More than 50 years into the age of nuclear energy, one of the biggest growth opportunities may be junking old reactors."

"'It's a jungle if you're an eagle right now on the Chesapeake Bay,' says Bryan Watts, a conservation biologist at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. 'You have to watch your back.'"

"The Obama administration's launch of a crude-by-rail safety inspection push dubbed the 'Bakken blitz' could open fault lines between freight operators and oil producers that have turned to the tracks to tote a record-high volume of flammable fuel."

"CHICAGO -- When city students arrived for the first day of school under the blazing temperatures of a Midwest heat wave, staff greeted them with some unusual school supplies: water bottles, fans and wet towels to drape around their necks."

"Eating raw oysters in the summertime is always risky; aqueous pathogens peak when the ocean is warm, which is part of why folk wisdom suggests one should only eat raw shellfish in months with an 'R' in the name. But this summer's been riskier than ever."

"Steps such as quitting smoking and controlling blood pressure and cholesterol could save more than 200,000 Americans a year, a report finds."

"SAN FRANCISCO -- The use of pesticides and the planting of genetically engineered crops on U.S. national wildlife refuges are illegal and damaging to the environment, say four advocacy groups who have filed a federal lawsuit to halt these practices on national wildlife refuges across the Midwest."

"Paul Bailey made the White House pitch on July 31. Flanked by six colleagues from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, the coal industry’s most public voice, Bailey pressed the case for 'achievable' greenhouse gas emissions standards for coal-fired power plants."

Conservation biologists have successfully trained dogs to use their sharp sense of smell to help in a variety of conservation tasks.

"The pending closure of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station is the latest in a string of planned plant retirements that many industry analysts say forecast a shrinking role for nuclear in the nation’s energy mix."