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That draining wetlands leads to a greater likelihood of frosts and freezes in southern Florida was noted nearly a century ago. In The Commodore’s Story (1930, R. Munroe and V. Gilpin, Washburn), Ralph Munroe commented that “the ‘frost line’ moved spasmodically down the state as drainage decreased the water area and apparently influenced the temperature.” […]
- Earth
Frosty Florida: Spread of agriculture may promote freezes
Planting crops in south Florida may have increased the risk of the freezes farmers hoped to avoid.
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Getting Back to Normal: Protein enables the liver to regenerate quickly
A protein called stem cell factor enables the liver to regenerate and may even protect people from acute liver failure.
- Astronomy
Hot and Heavy Star Birth: Young cosmos delivers massive stars
Aided by a gravitational zoom lens, astronomers have discovered the hottest, brightest, and most crowded star-forming region ever observed.
- Earth
Cast-Iron Foot: Undersea snail has mineral armor
An as-yet-unnamed species of snail living around hydrothermal vents deep beneath the Indian Ocean bears a suit of armor forged from the minerals dissolved in the hot fluids that spew from its seafloor environment.
- Health & Medicine
Soy compounds thwart estrogen
Soy-stress compound interferes with estrogen activity, possibly pointing the way to a new breast-cancer drug.
- Earth
UV-pollutant combo hits tadpoles hard
Coincident exposure to ultraviolet light and an estrogen-mimicking pollutant severely jeopardized the chance a tadpole would reach adulthood.
- Earth
Sewage linked to fish-gender quirks
Releases from sewage treatment plants appear to impair reproductive tissues in fish.
- Earth
Pollutants shape baby-gator gonads
The same pollutants that appear to shorten the length of a grown-alligator's phallus actually lead to this organ's lengthening in baby gators.
- Earth
POPs treaty enacted
A new United Nations treaty that seeks to phase down or eliminate production and use of 16 persistent, toxic pollutants has gone into effect.
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Underwater balancing act
Researchers have identified a gene that influences the growth of crystals in the inner ears of zebrafish and found that modifying this gene can cause the fish to lose their sense of gravity.
- Planetary Science
Bone-dry Mars?
The presence of large amounts of olivine, a mineral that undergoes rapid chemical transformation when exposed to liquid water, argues against ancient oceans or lakes on Mars.
