All Stories by John Pickrell
- Earth
Killer Cocktails: Drug mixes threaten aquatic ecosystems
Trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs in waterways may work together to deform and kill native microscopic organisms.
- Materials Science
Gems of War
While international bodies grapple with regulatory schemes to stem the diamond trade that funds ongoing civil conflicts in African countries, scientists are attempting to develop methods for identifying gems from conflict zones.
- Humans
Terrorism Repercussions: Scientists consider threats, opportunities after Sept. 11
A new report from the American Association for the Advancement of Science considers the potential effects on academic research of government policies proposed in response to the terrorism attack of Sept. 11, 2001.
- Earth
Monsoon Warning: Data hint at wet and blustery future
Asian monsoons have been intensifying over the last 400 years, and they're slated to get worse.
- Health & Medicine
More than Skin Deep? Beauty products may damage fetal development
A new report shows that many cosmetics contain phthalates—a class of chemicals known to cause developmental deformities in animals.
- Animals
Pesticides Mess with Immunity: Double whammy promotes frog deformities
Agricultural pollutants may conspire with parasites to cause the epidemic of limb deformity that's sweeping through North America's frog populations.
- Earth
Teenage Holdup: Pollution may delay puberty
A new study of adolescents suggests that widespread environmental pollutants such as PCBs and dioxins may delay sexual development.
- Health & Medicine
Cell-Phone Buzz: Contradictory studies heat up radiation question
A new long-term animal study of cell-phone radiation suggests that emissions don't cause cancer, but studies by a second team hint that cell phones may cause damage in other ways.
- Tech
Tiny rockets may advance minisatellites
A new type of miniaturized rocket may bring microspacecraft one step closer to reality.
- Plants
Mirror Image: Flowers with opposite styles have a fling
Scientists have discovered a gene that controls whether flowers lean to the left or the right.
- Anthropology
Searching for the Tree of Babel
Researchers are using new methods of comparing languages to reveal information about the ancestry of different cultural groups and answer questions about human history.
- Earth
Shelter from Space Storms: Energy rebounds from Earth
NASA satellite observations show that Earth's outer atmosphere interacts dramatically with the solar wind and shields the planet from it.
