All Stories by Beth Mole
- Chemistry
Interstellar chemical resembles building blocks of life
A molecule detected in the space between stars resembles amino acids, suggesting those building blocks of life share a similar origin.
- Science & Society
Syria’s World Heritage Sites severely damaged by war
Satellite images reveal that five of the country’s six World Heritage Sites have suffered damage and some structures have been completely destroyed.
- Environment
Crops take up drugs from recycled water
Plants irrigated with recycled wastewater can soak up tiny amounts of pharmaceutical compounds but what this means for human health is unclear.
- Agriculture
Drug-resistant staph can cling to farm workers for days
Agricultural exposure to staph bacteria could threaten the health of laborers and people who live near farms, a study of pig farm workers suggests.
- Oceans
Plastic may take unexpected routes to marine garbage patches
By redefining ocean boundaries, researchers offer new insight to how litter moves through the oceans and who’s to blame for the floating clumps of trash.
- Environment
Carbon capture and storage finally approaching debut
Carbon capture and storage offers a way to rein in global carbon emissions. But financial and regulatory obstacles, as well as public fears, are delaying the technology’s long-awaited implementation.
- Climate
Multiple oceans may help stall global warming
The Atlantic and Southern oceans, not the Pacific, may be largely to blame for the recent pause in rising global temperatures.
- Materials Science
Nature-inspired camouflage changes its looks with light
Thin, flexible new material steals the color-shifting capabilities of cephalopod skin.
- Environment
Fetuses may be exposed to antimicrobial compounds
Health risks remain uncertain as scientists find common soap chemicals in pregnant women and cord blood.
- Oceans
Mercury at ocean surface may have tripled since preindustrial times
Questions remain over dangers of toxic metal in environment.
- Environment
Recycled water may flood urban parks with dangerous germs
Irrigating city parks with recycled water may flood the soil with drug-resistant microbes.
- Chemistry
Molecular cage traps rare gases
Organic compound could cull valuable xenon from the air and detect cancer-causing radon in homes.
