The White House warns that oil from the Gulf of Mexico disaster will likely continue leaking until August after BP declares its ‘top kill’ operation a failure, the CBC’s David Common reports.

Editor’s note: Why doesn’t a consortium of structural, ocean and even geo engineers get together and start looking at quick and innovative approaches to stopping what is now the worst oil spill in U.S. history?

The last time a big volcano in the Philippines rumbled to life like this was in 1991. Within 60 days Mt. Pinatubo exploded sending the largest sulfur dioxide ever observed into the stratosphere. And that eruption alone offset global warming by cooling the average air temperature by one degree for almost 18 months.

The Philippines’ most active volcano could have a huge eruption within days, officials warned on Sunday. Thousands have been evacuated, and red-hot lava has already started to flow down the mountainside.

Many scientists are disappointed after two weeks of climate change negotiations resulted in a toothless agreement that didn’t limit carbon dioxide, the main culprit of global warming. The new Copenhagen Accord(PDF) did not cut emissions as previously thought, dimming some hope that a global treaty would help improve the climate.

Some are calling for Plan B just in case reducing emissions ends up being too little, too late. Intervening in the climate is considered a last-ditch effort if we find ourselves in dire climate straits. But now geoengineering is starting to get some attention as several top scientists are calling for new research initiatives and its inclusion as part of broader climate solutions.

Even former Microsoft technology guru and physicist Nathan Myhrvold thinks we need to start preparing for every eventuality.

Owning the Weather, panel discussion on geoengineering, from COP 15 in Copenhagen.

Artist rendering of blimps spewing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, courtesy of The Atlantic.

If runaway global warming gets the better of humanity, then some fairly drastic measures will be needed to stave off the worst effects. That’s where a group of futurists start talking about geoengineering some extreme solutions to the problem.

The latest plan to limit the effects of global warming comes in the form of reducing the strength of hurricanes, which get their power from super-heated sea surface water.

A group, which includes Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has patented a device that will try to chill the ocean to slow or divert big and damaging hurricanes.

Is the science sound? or is this just another work of fiction?

With the money and influence of one of the richest men behind it, global warming may face a threat from a new force of nature.

Science is facing some big questions, like how will we capture excess atmospheric carbon dioxide or how will we overcome antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections?

But, a one-celled organism that lives in the sea may have the answers to health and environmental issues living inside.

Cyanobacteria and bacteriophages are knocking down barriers in biology and could even help the environment down the road. But first, scientists need to figure out how these tiny sea creatures tick.