Earth
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Earth
Antibacterial agent can weaken muscle
Triclosan impairs the power of the heart and other muscles in two species and at relatively low doses.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Global groundwater use outpaces supply
Footprint measure reveals unsustainable use of the world’s aquifers.
By Meghan Rosen -
Earth
Extreme hot spells rising
Analyzing six decades of temperature records reveals inexorable warming and increasing episodes of extreme heat.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Greenland enters melt mode
This year’s record-breaking island-wide thaw punctuates an ongoing warming trend.
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Animals
Epidemic of skin lesions reported in reef fish
A British-Australian research team has just found coral trout living on the south side of the Great Barrier Reef sporting dark skin raised, scablike, brown-black growths. Although the authors believe they’ve stumbled onto an epidemic of melanoma — a type of skin cancer — other experts have their doubts. Strong ones.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Stronger storms may destroy ozone
Extra water vapor churned high into the atmosphere by climate change–fueled tempests could trigger destructive chemical reactions.
By Devin Powell -
Earth
External ills imperil tropical reserves
Impacts just outside park boundaries cause ecosystems within to decline.
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Earth
Night lights may foster depression
In animals, chronic dim light triggers brain changes that disappear with the return of nightlong darkness.
By Janet Raloff -
Life
Polar bears’ ancient roots pushed way back
Full genetic blueprints suggest the animals split from brown bears millions of years ago.
By Devin Powell -
Earth
Field test stashes climate-warming carbon in deep ocean
Strategically dumping the metal stimulates a bloom of microscopic creatures that carry the greenhouse gas to Davy Jones’s locker.
By Devin Powell