The Conservative government has been warned that digging for shale gas could boost carbon-dioxide emissions, encroach on wildlife habitat and sap freshwater resources. The risks are included in briefing notes prepared last spring for federal Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis.

Researchers have recently developed an impressive geological map of the Schrodinger Basin on the surface of the Moon, one of the most renowned features our natural satellite. This allows geologists to make more sense of the changes that went on over millions of years.

A surprise fossil field at a glacier in B.C.'s Kootenay National Park contains at least eight new species that lived 505 million years ago. Descriptions of the new fossil field and the new species collected two years ago were published in the September issue of the journal Geology.

The major basins of Qinshui, Ordos and Junggar are believed to hold CBM resources of 664 trillion cubic feet (tcf), of which we estimate about 260 tcf (40%) can be recovered. The largest uncertainty lies in the timing of its development and the investment needed to bring CBM to market. However, the cost of this supply, albeit higher than domestic conventional gas projects, would be lower than contracted oil-indexed gas imports.