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When handled with care, global statistics can help challenge common misconceptions about the world, particularly population and fertility, says statistician Hans Rosling. Chief among the myths to be debunked: That the world is split in two – with a developed world on one side and a developing world on the other.

For years, a loose network of environmental groups, public health organizations and members of Congress, both Democratic and Republican, has fought to require companies to try to redesign their chemical facilities, to make them safer. But industry executives and their allies in Congress have blocked the proposals.

Texas sued BP, Transocean Ltd. and others involved in the 2010 oil spill, calling it the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and becoming the fifth Gulf of Mexico state to file claims.

The Energy Department on Friday gave Freeport LNG conditional approval to broadly export domestically harvested natural gas, marking only the second time a U.S. company has won that authority and suggesting the Obama administration may grant similar licenses later this year.

Chevron Corp., the second-biggest U.S. oil company, said it’s preparing an investment in Argentina that will help make the country energy independent by developing what could be the world’s second-largest shale oil reservoir.

A “GPS shield” that could warn populations of tsunami threats has been the dream of disaster preparedness at least since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 230,000 people over a vast region.

A new study from Johns Hopkins University updates 2006 research that found excess levels of arsenic in U.S. chicken.

When improved pregnancy tests were developed in the 1960s, the advance came with an unexpected side effect: a role in the spread of chytridiomycosis, a lethal fungal disease that has wiped out hundreds of species of frogs.

A new government study of public pools finds widespread fecal contamination lurking in the water you may be swimming in.

The eastern Asia native has an astonishing ability to eat aphids, but spreads rapidly and harbors a parasite that kills other species.

Scientists say they have found a way to provide faster and more accurate early warning systems for tsunamis. A German team says GPS satellite-based positioning could offer detailed information about the events within minutes of an earthquake occurring.

European policymakers face a difficult decision on building carbon capture and storage: In theory, CCS would allow energy producers to continue to burn fossil fuels and still meet carbon emission targets. In practice, the technology is expensive and unproven.

The European Union, which has spearheaded efforts to curb global warming, is set to adopt a change of focus in response to concerns over costs and the impact on companies in economically depressed Europe.

It's been two years since West Virginia politicians gathered near Wharncliffe, W.Va., to break ground for and sing the praises of what they said would be the first U.S. plant to turn coal into gasoline and create hundreds of jobs on a former strip mine near the Kentucky line.

You see the effect of the remarkable growth of American energy exploration if you visit a single place in Louisiana: it's the site of a liquefied natural gas terminal.

Australia has all but dumped $75 million worth of projects regrowing forests in the developing world and shelved a $100 million forest carbon partnership with Indonesia, while millions of dollars in foreign aid will be channelled into the live cattle export trade, sparking claims that aid money is being misused to help the embattled industry.

Assumption Park gives residents of this city lovely views of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit skyline, but lately, they’ve been treated to another sight: a three-story pile of petroleum coke covering an entire city block on the other side of the Detroit River.

Many Europeans see American farming and its reliance on genetically modified crops as more Frankenstein than Farmer in the Dell.

Although the World Health Organisation has repeatedly cautioned on the risk of asbestos roofs, and medical experts asked the Ministry of Education to replace roofs in many traditional schools, not much has been done to avert possible cancer cases caused by inhaling and exposure to the material.

The prospect of a deep sea "gold rush" opening a controversial new frontier for mining on the ocean floor has moved a step closer. The United Nations has published its first plan for managing the extraction of so-called "nodules" - small mineral-rich rocks - from the seabed.