Earth

Environment

Elevated carbon dioxide may impair reasoning

Insufficient ventilation allows exhaled gas to build up indoors, diminishing decision-making abilities.

Chemistry

Depths hold clues to dearth of xenon in air

The gas doesn’t dissolve well in minerals deep inside Earth, a discovery that may explain why it’s also scarce in the atmosphere.

Earth

Fish in mom’s diet may alter kids’ behavior

Eating fish that's low in mercury during pregnancy may reduce the risk that a woman's child shows signs of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Life

Duck-billed dino could slice and dice

Ancient animal’s teeth were made of six different tissue types.

Earth

Bad days for dinosaurs began long before the last of them died

Earth

Intraplate quakes signal tectonic breakup

The unusual April temblors are the latest in a massive energy release that is cleaving the Indo-Australian crustal plate in two.

Oceans

Soundings

The Story of the Remarkable Woman Who Mapped the Ocean Floor by Hali Felt.

Earth

Earth & Environment

Soot’s contributions to global warming may be overestimated, and unusual source of oceans’ methane discovered.

Earth

Arctic sea ice hits record low, and keeps going

A summer storm and thinner ice probably contributed to this year’s massive melt.

Earth

The facts behind the frack

The gas, primarily methane, is cheap and relatively clean. Because America is brimful of the stuff, harvesting the fuel via fracking could provide the country jobs and reduce its dependence on foreign sources of energy.

Earth

Himalayan melt may be less than thought

Satellite data suggest net ice loss has been modest.

Earth

Nanosized pollutants pose crop risks

Nanoparticles in exhaust and common consumer products can end up in soil and harm the growth and health of crops.