British scientists to venture into unknown beneath Antarctic glaciers. The polar scientists are to get their first glimpse of this hidden world with a robot submarine that will travel beneath one of the frozen continent's most puzzling glaciers. [News Source]

Alternative energy goes mainstream. Forced to balance the needs of a population that cannot survive without subsidized energy, and at the same time facing the need to diversify energy sources, the government finds itself in a quandary. [News Source]

Soot in the city. Soot conjures acrid, stifling images, from Dickensian London to smokestacks in China. In Houston, it's freeways thick with diesel exhaust and a thin brown haze that too often smears the skyline. [News Source]

Lead boldly where you’ve never led before, Prime Minister. The Age's new year wish is that the Government will recover its boldness in connecting economic and environmental policy. [News Source]

The commodification of the future and the battle for middle earth. Directed primarily at the accelerated deforestation of the 'Middle Earth' belt of forests that encircle the globe along the tropics, international solutions focus on greenhouse gases resulting from human activity. [News Source]

Coping with climate. Developing nations will bear the brunt of global warming. Public-private partnerships can help. [News Source]

Donna Brazile: We must temper excitement with patience. As Obama and Joe Biden prepare to take the helm of leadership in this country, I think it’s clear that expectations are very high right now regarding the probable success of the Obama administration. [News Source]

For those who value flying… . The primary emissions from aircraft that contribute to global warming are carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Improving fuel efficiency translates almost directly into reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. [News Source]

Bacteria In Ice May Record Climate Change (Science Daily) To many people, bacteria and climate change are like chalk and cheese: the smallest creature versus one of the biggest phenomena on earth. Not really. Scientists with the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences and coworkers recently reported that small bugs deposited in ice and snow might tell how our climate has been changing. [News Source]

Bacteria In Ice May Record Climate Change (Science Daily) To many people, bacteria and climate change are like chalk and cheese: the smallest creature versus one of the biggest phenomena on earth. Not really. Scientists with the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences and coworkers recently reported that small bugs deposited in ice and snow might tell how our climate has been changing. [News Source]

Malibu’s vanishing Broad Beach a sign of rising sea levels, experts say. As wealthy homeowners build sandbag walls and plan more extensive, costly measures, scientists say the ocean could eventually defeat all such efforts. [News Source]