Sharks released off Sydney beach for study. A Sydney aquarium released seven carpet sharks, bred in captivity and tagged with acoustic tracking devices, into the waters off a city beach on Tuesday to study if it is feasible to breed sharks to restock dwindling wild numbers. — Reuters

Water reportedly tainted by huge quantity of flushed drugs. U.S. hospitals and nursing homes are pouring an estimated 250 million pounds of drugs down drains and toilets every year, contaminants that enter drinking water supplies and could pose a health risk, according to an investigative report by the Associated Press. — Yale Environment 360

Ralph Nadar: Offshore drilling is fool’s black gold. As we begin to assess the damage caused by Hurricane Ike, which forced the shutdown of this country’s oil industry and sent adrift two oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, our members of Congress are poised to vote on legislation this week that would undermine a decades-old ban on offshore oil drilling. — Grist

Tipping Points Near on Global Warming. Dr James Hansen has testified to Congress about global warming, 20 years after my June 23, 1988 testimony, which alerted the public that global warming was underway. There are striking similarities between then and now, but one big difference. Again a wide gap has developed between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known by policymakers and the public. Now, as then, frank assessment of scientific data yields conclusions that are shocking to the body politic. Now, as then, I can assert that these conclusions have a certainty exceeding 99 percent. — Huffington Post