Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that small US banks are likely to fail in the months ahead as the housing slump takes its toll. Bernanke also warned that the US is currently facing a more difficult situation than in the aftermath of the dotcom bust in 2001.
More than 30 scientists from all over the world embarked this week from the extreme south of Chile on a research mission to the Southern Ocean. Researchers will battle the elements to study how gases important to climate change move between the atmosphere and the ocean under high winds and seas.
Welsh academics believe they have found a vital key to the climate switch, explaining why Antarctica went into a deep freeze 34 million years ago. The team of scientists from Cardiff University and National Museum Wales has been studying ice sheet formation in the frozen continent, reports ICWales.
Six months after having planted the tricolor flan in the geographic North Pole, Russia has done the same in the southern Pole in a clear expression of its renewed ambitions in Antarctica and its natural resources.
Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said this week they have collected mysterious creatures, including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths.
Antarctica is the ultimate destination for anyone interested in natural history but it also challenges those people who visit to think broadly about our responsibilities to all life on Earth. That's the view of Dr Robert Lambert, a lecturer on Tourism and the Environment at The University of Nottingham, who has just returned from the Antarctic in his role as an Observer for the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO).
The Korean government announced this week plans to set up a second research station in Antarctica to expand operations. The project should be completed by 2011.
Brazilian president Lula da Silva felt overwhelmed during his brief Sunday visit to the country's base in Antarctica, a dream since a child, promised more resources for scientific research, according to the Brazilian press.
Marine life in Antarctica will be at risk from an invasion of sharks, crabs and other predators if global warming continues, scientists warn. Crabs are poised to return to the Antarctic shallows, threatening creatures such as giant sea spiders and floppy ribbon worms, says a UK-US team.
Venezuelan scientists and military officers set out Friday on their country's first expedition to Antarctica, leaving Friday from Uruguay's capital Montevideo aboard the Uruguayan naval research ship Oyarbide.