Now a team led by a University of Washington scientist has studied lake mud, which contains microbial communities even more complex than those in seawater, and homed in on bacteria that perform the ecological task of eating methane.

Swift Energy Company (NYSE:SFY) announced today that its income from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2008 increased 173% to a record $83.2 million, or $2.66 per diluted share, compared to $30.5 million, or $1.00 per diluted share of income from continuing operations earned in the second quarter of 2007.

By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times May 16--It's got a Dr. Seuss name and a prehistoric appearance, but the threespine stickleback of Lake Washington is opening new frontiers of scientific understanding about how animals adapt to rapid environmental change.

By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times May 15--It's got a Dr. Seuss name and a prehistoric appearance, but the threespine stickleback of Lake Washington is opening new frontiers of scientific understanding about how animals adapt to rapid environmental change.

SEATTLE, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolution is supposed to inch forward over eons, but sometimes, at least in the case of a little fish called the threespine stickleback, the process can go in relative warp-speed reverse, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and published online today ahead of print in the May 20 issue of Current Biology (Cell Press).