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COUNTRY POPULATION (smallest) (February, 2006 numbers) Vatican City 920

COUNTRY POPULATION (largest) (February, 2006 numbers) China 1,306,313,800

OCEANS OF THE WORLD (by size) Pacific (155,557,000 sq km)

basic laws of physics dictate that energy is conserved and can only be changed from one form to another or into matter.

Fuel, on the other hand, is the accumulation of matter and therefore represents a store of energy.

released in the form of heat when the fuel is burned in chemical or nuclear reactions

1. Polar ice caps meltingThe ice caps melting is a four-pronged danger.First, it will raise sea levels. There is 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet. Luckily, that’s not going to happen. But sea levels will rise.Second, melting ice caps will screw up the global ecosystem. The ice caps are fresh water, and when they melt into the ocean, they make it less salty, or desalinize the ocean. The desalinization of the gulf current will screw up, to put it simply, the current. It will cool the area around north-east America and Western Europe. Luckily, that will slow some of the other effects of global warming in that area. But with the stream shutdown, the whole Atlantic ecosystem could be warped.Third, all the animals in the Arctic will be in danger because of a changing habitat.Fourth, global warming will accelerate with the ice caps gone. Ice caps are white, and reflect sunlight. Some of that sunlight is reflected back into space, further cooling Earth. If the ice caps are melted, only the dark-colored ocean will be there. Darker colors absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.

More than a mere biological oddity, the discovery adds weight to Oremland's theory that the bacteria's ability evolved billions of years ago, when the first life was just getting started on Earth. At the time, the planet's oceans were devoid of oxygen, but hydrothermal vents spewed elements such as sulfur, iron and arsenic into the water column.

In this ancient stew, arsenic may have been an important nutrient to life. The life forms would have used whatever they could to survive these noxious waters, and sunlight and arsenic were probably plentiful.

Poison or Fuel?

Pollution at the nation’s 3,500 ocean, lake and bay beaches resulted in more than 25,000 closing or swimming advisory days last year, 28 percent more than in 2005, and the highest number in the 17 years that records have been kept, according to a new federal report released Tuesday.

he prime culprit was storm water runoff

Another 1,300 days were attributed to sewage spills and overflows.

The western portion of Prince William Sound was the most heavily oiled in 1989 and oil on some beaches remains a serious concern for residents of the Sound who use these areas.

The remaining 1,100 miles of oiled shoreline were considered to have light to very light oiling. Crews visiting beaches in 1993 found hundreds of sites that contained substantial oil deposits.

A 1992 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) study* estimated that a great majority of the oil evaporated, dispersed into the water column or degraded naturally.

Looks like a pillar of iTunes content might be on the brink of collapse -- Universal Music, the world's largest music business, has officially opted not to renew its contract with Apple for vending music on the iTunes Music Store. We don't know specifically what caused Universal to turn away -- perhaps it's the weight of the rising anti-DRM movement among consumers, or perhaps it's because of Stevie J.'s brash negotiating tactics, continual refusal to hand over iPod cash, or oceanic persistence in keeping tracks locked in at $0.99. Whatever the reason, we can't say we're all that surprised; Universal's been a pain in Apple's ass for years now. So what's the end result? Well, Universal music will still be sold through iTunes at will, so that means consumers can keep buying tracks for the time being, but Apple runs the risk of losing Universal's content on very short notice if the companies don't make happy with one another and put pen to paper once more.

Green house gases stay can stay in the atmosphere for an amount of years ranging from decades to hundreds and thousands of years. No matter what we do, global warming is going to have some effect on Earth. Here are the 5 deadliest effects of global warming.

As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes

global warming will exacerbate the conditions and could lead to conflicts and war.

Long ago, people called Pilgrims left their home in England and came across the ocean to America in a boat called the Mayflower. They built their own houses, planted seeds they had brought with them, and made friends with the Indians, who were already living in America. The Indians taught them how to plant corn and hunt and fish for animals that they could eat. In the fall, when the corn was ready, the Pilgrims picked it. It was their first harvest, and when they had finished, they had a party to celebrate and give thanks that they had enough food to last through the winter. The party, called the First Thanksgiving, was held outside, and everyone came, including the Indians. Now every year we celebrate Thanksgiving to remember the brave Pilgrims and to give thanks for all of our blessings.