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Oceanic 'Garbage Patch' Not Nearly as Big as Portrayed in Media
There is a lot of plastic trash floating in the Pacific Ocean, but claims that the "Great Garbage Patch" between California and Japan is twice the size of Texas are grossly exaggerated, according to an analysis by an Oregon State University scientist.

Further claims that the oceans are filled with more plastic than plankton, and that the patch has been growing tenfold each decade since the 1950s are equally misleading, pointed out Angelicque "Angel" White, an assistant professor of oceanography at Oregon State.

"There is no doubt that the amount of plastic in the world's oceans is troubling, but this kind of exaggeration undermines the credibility of scientists," ...

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Methane from BP oil spill eaten by microbes
The huge quantities of methane gas that bubbled out of BP's broken well in the Gulf of Mexico were eaten up almost entirely by undersea microbes by the end of August, a new study reports today....