How old is California's Yosemite Valley?

First-time visitors to Yosemite Valley gape in awe at the sheer granite wall of El Capitan and the neatly sliced face of Half Dome, aware, perhaps vaguely, that rain and glaciers must have taken a long time to cut and sculpt ...

Kids swapping outdoor play for TV as smoke chokes California

A dull haze and the faint smell of smoke from distant blazes have blanketed many California cities for two weeks, forcing summer campers to stay inside, obscuring normally bright skylines and leaving cars covered with ash.

Ack! Distant fires leave California's capital city in a haze

No major wildfires are burning near Sacramento but for two weeks a dull haze and the faint smell of smoke from distant blazes has blanketed California's capital region, forcing summer campers to stay inside, obscuring normally ...

Local winds play key role in some megafires

Although drought and overgrown forests are often blamed for major fires in the western United States, new research using unique NASA before-and-after data from a megafire site indicates that highly localized winds sometimes ...

Scientists: Endangered frog rebounding in Yosemite park (Update)

A native California frog once on the brink of extinction is making an encouraging comeback in Yosemite National Park, raising hopes for amphibians like it worldwide that are dying off at an alarming rate, researchers said ...

Pesticides contaminate frogs from Californian National Parks

Pesticides commonly used in California's Central Valley, one of the world's most productive agricultural regions, have been found in remote frog species miles from farmland. Writing in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, ...

Mountain forest study shows vulnerability to climate change

A new University of Colorado Boulder-led study that ties forest "greenness" in the western United States to fluctuating year-to-year snowpack indicates mid-elevation mountain ecosystems are most sensitive to rising temperatures ...

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