DURHAM, N.C. – Increased updrafts induced by rising global temperatures may disperse seeds and pollen over greater distances, according to findings from a recent study by an international team of scientists including a Duke University micrometeorologist.

DURHAM, N.C. – Exposure to lead in early childhood significantly contributes to lower performances on end-of-grade (EOG) reading tests among minority and low-income children, who historically are at higher risk for lead exposure, according to a study by researchers at Duke University and North Carolina Central University.

DURHAM, N.C. – Students looking to apply to college this fall have a new online tool to help them in their search. A free directory of environmental information at nearly 2,000 U.S. colleges and universities is now available at www.ourearth.org.

The directory, which is the first of its kind, provides listings of environmental degree programs as well as environmental opportunities and organizations at campuses around the country.

DURHAM, N.C. - The Duke University student chapter of the Society of American Foresters (SAF) is now taking orders for North Carolina-grown Fraser fir Christmas trees.

Proceeds will help fund a student-managed organic Christmas tree farm in Duke Forest.

Trees between 5-feet and 12-feet tall are available for pre-order through November 6. Prices range from $35 to $160.

DURHAM, N.C. – A plan to turn a small pond in the Duke Gardens into a sedimentation pond this winter could have spelled disaster for the turtles who called it home. But thanks to a group of nine Nicholas School students, 11 turtles have been rescued and safely relocated to another pond in the gardens.

Second-year Master of Environmental Management student Maura Nowalk spearheaded the relocation after hearing about the plan to empty and dredge the pond, which she knew to be a home to many turtles.

DURHAM, N.C. – An important but fixable error in legal accounting rules for bioenergy could undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gases by encouraging deforestation, accounting to new analysis by 13 prominent scientists and land-use experts, including both the current and former deans of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.

The team of experts published its analysis as a “Policy Forum” article in the Oct. 23 issue of the journal Science.

Durham, N.C. – Wilderness historian Roderick Nash, creator of the widely cited concept of “island civilizations,” a green masterplan for life on Earth for the next 1,000 years, will speak at Duke University at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10.

The lecture, free and open to the public, will be held at Love Auditorium in Levine Science Research Center on Duke’s West Campus. A reception will follow at 5:30 p.m.

DURHAM, N.C. – Energy visionary Amory Lovins, one of Time magazine’s “Heroes for Our Planet,” will give a free, public talk at Duke University at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4.

Lovins’ talk will take place at Love Auditorium in the Levine Science Research Center on Duke’s West Campus.  He will discuss “Profitable Solutions for Climate, Oil and Proliferation.”

The talk is the 2009 Duke Environment and Society Lecture, sponsored by the Nicholas School of the Environment.