The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is restricting fishing for a minimum of ten days in federal waters most affected by the BP oil spill, largely between Louisiana state waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River to waters off Florida’s Pensacola Bay. The closure is effective immediately. The off shore fisheries provide food and a number of jobs. The questions of testing and monitoring seafood quality will be watched carefully by NOAA, local state agencies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making it easier to find chemical information online. EPA is releasing a database, called ToxRefDB, which allows scientists and the interested public to search and download thousands of toxicity testing results on hundreds of chemicals. ToxRefDB captures 30 years and $2 billion of federal required testing results. In this day and age this is a handy regulatory and technical tool and simplifies at leash some of the required toxicity investigation research.

Scientists using a NASA funded telescope have detected water ice and carbon based organic compounds on the surface of an asteroid. The cold facts of the discovery of the frosty mixture on one of the asteroid belt’s larger occupants, suggests that some asteroids, along with their celestial brethren, comets, were the water carriers for a primordial Earth. The research is published in today’s issue of the journal Nature. These findings may give clues as to how the primordial oceans and life on Earth once formed.

Keeping track of where wildlife may wander may give important keys on how they live and prosper as well as how to maintain their lifestyle. Rural areas with human development can lessen grizzly bear survival, and innovative bear rub tree surveys can successfully monitor grizzly population dynamics in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, suggest two new studies released by the U.S. Geological Survey in the Journal of Wildlife Management.

To this date there is not a single offshore wind turbine been built in the United States. Meanwhile Europe, China and Japan are far along in developing a water based wind power industry. All one needs is a strong and steady wind as well as a relatively easy way to connect o the power grid so as to transmit the power gained from the wind. Most people think of wind power from various land based operations. However, it can be done by basing the wind turbine in the sea.

The brain, in some ways, is simply the biological device that keeps a body running and the mind thinking. In that way it is like a computer. An international team of scientists has discovered striking similarities between the human brain, the nervous system of a worm, and a computer chip. The finding is reported in the journal PloS Computational Biology today.

What is time? One of the earliest concepts proposed is that is simply the fourth dimension, another direction. Humans travel daily one way into the future. Science fiction writers have long been obsessed with the subject from the legendary “The Time Machine” by HG Wells to the the Doctor Who series about the last time lord and his adventures. From summer blockbusters to sensational science headlines, modern culture is constantly inundated with tales of time travel. But when you boil down the physics involved, is it possible to travel through time?

What is Earth Day? It has spread and is celebrated all over the world. Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970. Earth Day is celebrated in the spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold free events for the public on the National Mall this weekend to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The events will feature interactive, fun and educational exhibits related to environmental protection.

Smell is one of the five senses. It is how we interact with the world. What does the smell of a good meal mean to you? What are good smells and what are bad smells? Are there effects beyond just being pleasant or unpleasant? Specific odors that represent food or indicate danger may be capable of altering an animal’s lifespan and physiological profile by activating a small number of highly specialized sensory neurons, researchers at the University of Michigan, University of Houston, and Baylor College of Medicine have shown in a study publishing by the end of April in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology.

Imagine an electrical storm larger than the continental United States in which the lightning bolts are more than 1,000 times stronger than conventional lightning, and you’ll have a good idea of what can transpire on Saturn. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has recently captured images of lightning on Saturn. The images have allowed scientists to create the first movie showing lightning flashing on another planet. After waiting years for Saturn to dim enough for the spacecraft’s cameras to detect bursts of light, scientists were able to create the movie, complete with a soundtrack that features the crackle of radio waves emitted when lightning bolts struck.