The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, may be the world's tallest building, but the Canton Tower's observation deck is the world's highest, according to this article. Of the 10 highest observation decks in the world, Chicago's Willis Tower comes in at number eight, while half of those on the list are in China ... read more >>

Broad Sustainable Construction says it will break ground on the Sky City project in China next month. The tower, which will use "bundled tube" frame design, will be built to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake and will use "eight-inch thick insulated walls and triple glazing." The tower will be built by 3,000 full-time workers and 16,000 part-timers using prefabricated segments to be assembled at ... read more >>

The Senate has approved an amendment by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., to the proposed Water Resources Development Act that would bring Mississippi's governor to the table during any talks concerning a Louisiana levee plan. "It will give Mississippians a role in guaranteeing that a flood-control project built by our neighbors won't inadvertently increase flood risk on our side of the border," Cochra ... read more >>

Glaciers in the Mount Everest region have shrunk by 13 percent and the snow-line has shifted 180 meters (590 feet) higher during the past 50 years, a new study found. This might be linked to higher carbon dioxide levels, less precipitation, higher temperatures and climate change. ... read more >>

A Japanese nuclear reactor is said to stand on fault line, therefore authorities ordered the shutdown of the nuclear reactor. This is the first reactor to shutdown after the Fukushima crisis two years ago. ... read more >>

Even while the Great Lakes are in the middle of a multiyear federal restoration program, water quality remains an issue, according to a new report on how the health of the world's largest freshwater system has changed over the past 25 years.

"While sustained governmental and public efforts have measurably improved Great Lakes water quality, rapid reduction in ice cover and the resurgence of so ... read more >>

From the water management perspective, water scarcity is an unacceptable risk of facing water shortages to serve water demands in the near future. Water scarcity may be temporary and related to drought conditions or other accidental situation, or may be permanent and due to deeper causes such as excessive demand growth, lack of infrastructure for water storage or transport, or constraints in wate ... read more >>

A pocket of water some 2.6 billion years old — the most ancient pocket of water known by far, older even than the dawn of multicellular life — has now been discovered in a mine 2 miles below the Earth's surface.

The finding, announced in the May 16 issue of the journal Nature, raises the tantalizing possibility that ancient life might be found deep underground not only within Earth, but in sim ... read more >>

A NASA-led modeling study provides new evidence that global warming may increase the risk for extreme rainfall and drought. ... read more >>

Householders whose homes have previously been flooded are seeking advice in record numbers over fears they will not be able to buy insurance from July onwards. The National Flood Forum (NFF) charity said the number of calls to its helpline trebled in the past year, with some callers reporting huge rises in the cost of their cover, and others saying they were unable to sell their properties. ... read more >>