Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010: Wide Angle : Discovery News

BP Trying to Silence Science on Oil Spill?

Scientists and academics accuse the energy giant of trying to buy silence to protect itself after the spill.

What Does the Seep Mean for the Gulf?

If this seep is related to the capped well, the situation at the bottom of the gulf is verging on a nightmare scenario for BP and everyone affected by the oil spill.

US Orders BP to Report on 'Seep' at Gulf Oil Well

Hydrocarbons have been detected near the capped gusher, experts are investigating the source.

BP Reports No More Oil Flowing into Gulf

Although the tests are still ongoing, the new cap appears to be preventing oil from gushing into the Gulf.

Oil Containment Cap Tests Delayed

Officials fear that pressure increases caused by shutting off the flow of oil too quickly could create a new leak on the sea floor.

Oil-Stopping Island Crumbles Into the Gulf: Big Pics

A man-made island designed to protect the Louisiana coast from the gulf oil spill is in tatters, despite being still under construction.

BP Tests New Oil Containment Cap

The energy giant is hoping their latest efforts will put an end to the leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf's Artificial Islands Already Failing

Images taken of one construction site near the northern edge of the Chandeleur islands appear to show the sea washing away a giant sand berm over the course of about two weeks.

BP Caps Oil Spill

Although the old "Top Hat" collected 25,000 barrels of oil a day on average, the new system may be enough to contain the whole leak.

New Cap Could Seal Well as Relief Drilling Continues

If the containment cap fails, engineers are hopeful relief wells will do the trick. Find out how the two wells work here.

Dead Zone in Gulf Linked to Oil

Oxygen-starved conditions that have persisted for more than a month in the Gulf of Mexico are likely due to the BP oil spill, researchers say.

Fish Found Walking in Gulf Spill

Two new species of pancake batfish, which walk using their arm-like fins, have been found at the site of the Gulf oil spill.

Unprecedented Turtle Egg Move Underway

Just how do you relocate some 70,000 sea turtle eggs endangered by the Gulf spill? Very, very carefully.

Bacteria Could Help Clean Oiled Gulf Sands

Microbes could munch oil away from Gulf sands but dispersants may have made the problem worse.

Whale Sharks Spotted in Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick

The good news: Researchers spotted dozens of whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. The bad news: Some of them have been seen swimming in the oil slick.

Drilling for Oil Has Begun In Greenland

The first oil wells are being drilled in Greenland. What does this mean for our future?

Tar Balls Hit Texas Coast

Almost 500 miles of shoreline across all five Gulf states have now been oiled by the disaster.

How to Discuss the Oil Spill With Your Kids

The oil spill is bound to make summer vacation look a lot different this year for children around the Gulf.

Monstrous Oil Skimmer Arrives In Gulf

A Taiwanese tanker has been converted into an oil-skimming vessel and is ready for clean-up duty.

BP Oil Spill Now Biggest Ever in Gulf: Big Pic

BP's massive oil spill became the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico on July 1, 2010, the Associated Press reports, based on the highest of the federal government's estimates.

BP Burning Sea Turtles Alive?

Animal welfare groups sued BP for burning endangered sea turtles during the oil giant's "controlled burns" on the Gulf of Mexico spill.

X Prize Foundation to Reward Spill Solutions

Have a brilliant idea about how to clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill? Pitch it to the X Prize Foundation and you just might win a couple million bucks.

Hurricane Alex Delays Oil Spill Cleanup Efforts

Churned up waves and strong winds forced the suspension of oil skimming and booming operations.

Oil Clean Up Tech Needs More Funding

The SOS Act would not increase costs to taxpayers, but redirect $50 million a year to clean up from monies acquired through oil and gas royalty payments normally used to subsidize development of deepwater drilling.

NASA Surveys Oil Spill with Earthquake Aircraft

Earthquake surveillance technology that takes images of cracks and destruction after a quake on land could be the next line of defense for oil spill clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tropical Storm Alex to Miss Oil Spill

Strong swells and winds could still reach the slick area and disrupt cleanup efforts.

How Many Million Priuses Would Offset the Gulf Oil Spill?

One million gallons a day is a lot of oil. According to estimates late last week, that could be the daily rate of oil escaping from the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Children at Greatest Risk From Oil Spill

Children live and breathe closer to the ground where toxics from the Gulf oil spill are more concentrated.

Biologists Race To Count Bird Populations Before The Oil Spill Advances

If the ocean currents change direction, Point Au Fer Island, La. will be in the direct line of fire and the birds nesting there will be hit hard.

Gulf Oil Spill: Two Months Later

Two months and counting since oil began leaking into the Gulf, photos continue to paint a grim picture of the disaster.

Massive Spill Swirls in the Gulf: Big Pic

The latest satellite of the Gulf oil spill shows just how big it has become.

Oil Gushes Unchecked in Gulf After Sub Crash

After a containment system was damaged by a robotic sub, oil flowed at a rate of up to 60,000 barrels a day into the Gulf of Mexico.

Disaster in the Gulf Playlist

Cleanup and containment efforts continue in the Gulf of Mexico and along the coast after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20.

Oil Drilling to Resume in Gulf; Defenders of Wildlife Responds

A federal district court in Louisiana decided to lift a six-month moratorium on deep-water oil drilling imposed by President Obama.

Gulf Deepwater Drilling Freeze Blocked

Upholding the moratorium would affect employment and energy supplies, according to the judge who presided over the case.

What Do Thousands of Barrels of Oil Look Like?

BP estimated that its hole in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico could spew 100,000 barrels (4.2 million gallons) of oil per day into the sea. Amid all these zeros, how are we to get our heads around the true extent of the spill? One novel way: a violent video game.

Oil Spill Superimposed on Your City

Thanks to the Internet, Google Maps and 29-year-old software developer, we can have a touch of reality.

Cajun Cuisine at Risk as Oil's Effects Spread

The BP oil spill not only threatens Gulf seafood, but also the cultures and cuisines that depend on it.

iPhone App Helps Report Oiled Wildlife in Gulf

MoGo is a free iPhone app that allows the user to photograph an oiled animal, pinpoint its location using GPS and transmit the information to an animal rescue network.

Oil Spill Costs Hit $2 Billion

Costs will only run higher as the oil spill -- the worst in U.S. history -- grows.

Super Material Soaks Up Crude Oil

Finally, a glimmer of hope: A unique material created by a professor at Texas Tech University is proving that it can successfully trap crude oil and absorb the toxic vapors that the oil gives off.

Fate of Gulf's Deep-Water Corals Unknown

No one knows just how the Gulf's corals are being affected by the spill, but scientists are worried since the organisms support an array of life.

Oil Spill Threatens Funky Flat Fish: Big Pic

The Louisiana pancake batfish may not be the cuddliest creature you've ever laid your eyes on, but it is one of the many species currently threatened by the BP oil spill.

Oil Dispersants' Effects on Wildlife Remain Murky

Some studies suggest that creatures at the base of the food chain in the Gulf could be devastated by the oil-dispersing chemicals.

More Oil Spill Data Than You Can Handle

As part of the White House's Open Government Initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy has opened an online portal for the public to learn heart-wrenching details about the oil spill.

How Crude Oil Can Harm You

Crude oil is a complex mixture of chemicals that can affect your brain, skin, lungs and nervous system.

Experts: Kill, Don’t Clean, Oiled Birds

Despite the good intentions, some experts are saying that it would be more humane to simply kill the birds and wildlife than to try to clean them.

Underwater Plumes of Oil Confirmed

Experts are putting together a three-dimensional view of the oil spill -- and what they're finding is more bad news.

BP Captures About Half of Oil From Gulf Leak

The leak will not be completely stopped until BP completes the drilling of two relief wells, sometime in August.

Birds Caught in Oil Spill: Big Pics

Despite cleanup efforts, oil continues to devastate wildlife throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf Oil Spill: Nukes Not The Answer [VIDEO]

Nuclear weapons have been used in the past to close runaway oil gushers, so why couldn't a nuke be used to stop the oil spill in the Gulf? Discovery News' James Williams and Michael Reilly sort out the answer.

Video Shows Brown Pelican 'Choking to Death on Oil'

Many of us have seen disturbing photos of birds covered in oil from the BP spill in the Gulf. The suffering of these birds is almost too immense to contemplate.

Computers See Oil Spreading Far and Fast

As early as this summer, oil spewing from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico is likely to get caught up in the Gulf Loop Current and flow thousands of miles around Florida and up the East Coast, scientists warned Thursday.

Simple 'SQUID' Solution Could Contain Oil

BP has received more than 20,000 suggestions for dealing with the oil spill. Inventor Steve Dvorak offers one solution called the Super Quick Undersea Incident Device, or SQUID.

BP Cuts Pipe, Preps Cap for Oil Leak

Since the cut was irregular, fitting the cap snugly over the leak could prove all the more challenging.

Oil Spill Threatens Gulf Seafood

Seafood lovers can take comfort in the fact that oil has yet to have a major impact on catches in the Gulf -- at least for now.

A Deepwater Horizon Spill, Every Year

The Niger delta is the source of 40 percent of all the crude the United States imports. It is also "the world capital of oil pollution."

BP to Try New Way to Cap Oil Leak

BP will now attempt to place a box over the seafloor pipe to capture the oil and pump it to the surface.

'Top Kill' Fails to Stop Gulf Oil Leak

BP called off its most recent attempt to stop the oil leaking into the Gulf, though it had said "Top Kill" was its best option.

Artificial Barrier Islands Approved for Gulf

Officials hope the construction of these islands will separate the Louisiana coastline from the widening slick.

Scramble Is on to Gather Data on Oil Spill Effects

From analyzing oyster shells to monitoring how the oil is dispersing, scientists are working furiously to collect as much data as possible on the Gulf spill.

The Oil Spill Shows Its Silver Lining

Will this oil spill finally steer the course of energy policy in this country away from fossil fuels and toward clean, renewable sources of energy?

Gulf Power Plants Keep Close Watch on Oil Spill

As oil from the massive Deepwater Horizon slick in the Gulf of Mexico laps at Louisiana’s shores and tar balls wash up on beaches in the Florida Keys, saltwater-dependent power plants on the Gulf Coast prepare for the worst.

Gulf Oil Spill: Natural, International Disaster

The bad news is that while oil well itself may be contained, the spill is not. Revised estimates of the amount of oil released are out, and it is now officially the worst oil spill in U.S. history, surpassing the infamous Exxon Valdez disaster.

Hurricanes Can Snap Oil Pipelines in the Gulf

With some 31,000 miles of oil pipeline snaking across the bottom of the hurricane-prone Gulf, this is not good news.

Gulf Oil Spill Works like a Popped Zit

While the force of the oil leak clearly doesn't match the force behind a rocket booster, there is obviously quite a bit of pressure involved.

Oil and the Arctic's Future

Would you risk a Gulf of Mexico-type oil spill in the pristine U.S. Arctic Ocean? If things continue as planned, we'll all take that gamble when drilling begins on July 1.

The Oil Spill: Anatomy of a Blowout

It seems we've learned at least one thing from the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: whatever you do while drilling for oil, you should always, ALWAYS run a cement-bond log.

Coastal Oil Cleanup May Prove Impossible

The spill could leave behind a toxic stew lethal to the fish and wildlife that inhabit that maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Could Spread Gulf Spill Far and Wide

The hurricane season is looking to be active this year, though cooler water in the western Atlantic could help keep storms out of the Gulf.

Methane Tracking Could Size Up Oil Leak

How much oil has been spilled could be answered if scientists move quickly to measure the plumes of dissolved methane gas drifting around the Gulf of Mexico, a geochemist proposed Sunday.

Oil Washing Into Louisiana Wetlands

Frustration mounts as BP says their next attempt to stop the leak in the Gulf of Mexico won't happen until Tuesday.

First Endangered Turtles Found Slathered in Oil

An endangered baby Kemp's ridley sea turtle was discovered lathered in oil on Tuesday, May 18. This is the first rescued sea turtle known to be affected by the oil spill in the Gulf.

Oil Spill Impacts Louisiana Shores

The shorelines and wildlife of the Gulf Coast are being tainted by the oil spill. These recently taken photos show the devastation.

What If the Oil Leak Can't Be Stopped?

As new estimates suggest much more oil is spewing into the Gulf, experts outline how broad the future impact could be.

Gulf Oil Slick Hitches a Ride Out to Sea: Big Pics

Satellite images appear to show the spill entering the Gulf Loop Current, which could bring oil to the Florida Keys in about a week.

Growing Oil Spill Headed for Florida

As scientists try to plot where the spill is going, officials struggle to contain the impact of where the oil has already been.

BP Tube Captures 'Some' Oil

Engineers are still exploring options for how to keep oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Giant Underwater "Plumes" of Oil Discovered in Gulf

Estimates that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a lot larger than BP says it is have been simmering for days. And now it looks like they are correct.

Oil Leak: A Chronicle of Tech Failures

The enormous leak is so challenging that even underwater robots couldn't solve it.

Oil Spill Seen from All Angles: Big Pics

We've all seen photos of oil washing ashore as a result of the spill. But what does the scene look like at the source of the leak around 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico?

Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010: Wide Angle

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