Global Warming Makes Heat Waves More Likely, Pluto Has a Fifth Moon - 7/11 KQED Science News Roundup

Global Warming Makes Heat Waves More Likely, Study FindsSome of the weather extremes bedeviling people around the world have become far more likely because of human-induced global warming, researchers reported on Tuesday. Yet they ruled it out as a cause of last year's devastating floods in Thailand, one of the most striking weather events of recent years.

Astronomers discover an entirely new class of black holeScientists working with CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array have found a new kind of black hole that would make Goldilocks quite happy: By not being too big, nor too small, it falls within a new class of "middleweight" black holes.

Pluto Has a Fifth Moon, Hubble Telescope RevealsNew annotated image showing Pluto and moons, including the newly discovered P4, released July 20, 2011.CREDIT: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI institute) A new moon has been discovered orbiting Pluto, scientists announced today (July 11). Researchers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found the moon, bringing the number of known Pluto satellites to five.

Climate Change Will Unleash Buried Toxics | Eco Watch | The Bay Area Environment ColumnToxic sites ringing the San Francisco Bay tell the story of its recent past. Smelting plants, hazardous waste dumps, landfills, shipyards, fuel depots, and military bases recall an era when the bay was prized more for its tactical and commercial values than for its ecology.

States seek federal help fighting mussel scourgeBOISE, Idaho (AP) â Regional energy planners for four Western states are asking Congress for help building a stronger line of defense against what some officials call an unfolding environmental disaster â an invasive mussel that is clogging Colorado River reservoirs like Lake Mead outside Las Vegas after ravaging the Great Lakes region.

Relax, tourists -- sharks don't love Santa Cruz - San Jose Mercury NewsSANTA CRUZ -- The first shark attack victim in recorded Santa Cruz history was Father Hudson, a Catholic priest from Gilroy who in 1881 survived an attack while bathing in the ocean.