Earth
- Humans
Germs’ persistence: Nothing to sneeze at
Years ago, I read (probably in Science News) that viruses can’t survive long outside their hosts. That implied any surface onto which a sneezed-out germ found itself — such as the arm of a chair, kitchen counter or car-door handle — would effectively decontaminate itself within hours to a day. A pair of new flu papers now indicates that although many germs will die within hours, none of us should count on it. Given the right environment, viruses can remain infectious — potentially for many weeks, one of the studies finds.
By Janet Raloff - Life
Biology’s big bang had a long fuse
The fossil record’s earliest troves of animal life are the result of more than 200 million years of evolution.
By Susan Milius - Life
Cretaceous Thanksgiving
A fossilized feathered dinosaur dined on bird not long before its own demise.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Oxygen a bit player in Earth’s outer core
Sulfur and silicon may be more abundant in the planet’s heart than thought.
- Animals
Lost to history: The “churk”
More than a half-century ago, researchers at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center outside Washington, D.C., engaged in some creative barnyard breeding. Their goal was the development of fatherless turkeys — virgin hens that would reproduce via parthenogenesis. Along the way, and ostensibly quite by accident, an interim stage of this work resulted in a rooster-fathered hybrid that the scientists termed a churk.
By Janet Raloff - Climate
Matt Crenson, Reconstructions
In ancient Southwest droughts, a warning of dry times to come.
By Science News - Earth
Dirty air fosters precipitation extremes
Changes to clouds encourage drought in dry areas and torrential downpours in moist places.
By Janet Raloff - Tech
Hooking fish, not endangered turtles
A tuna fisherman has taken it upon himself to make the seas safer for sea turtles, animals that are threatened or endangered with extinction worldwide. He’s designed a new hook that he says will make bait unavailable to marine birds and turtles until long after it’s sunk well below the range where these animals venture to eat.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Contrasting the concerns over climate and ozone loss
On November 7, ozone and climate scientists met in Washington, D.C., to discuss whether the history of stratospheric ozone protection offered a useful case study about how to catalyze global action on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The simple answer that emerged: No.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Pollution may be strengthening Asian cyclones
Sooty brown clouds may underlie the recent emergence of mega-storms striking from India to the Middle East.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Infected bats can recover . . . with lots of help
Researchers reported new data today confirming that with enough coddling, many heavily infected bats can recover. The rub: These scientists also pointed out that there really aren’t sufficient resources to save more than a handful this way.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
A particulate threat to diabetics
As levels of soot and other fine air pollutants increased, so did blood pressure in patients whose disease was not well-controlled, a study finds.
By Janet Raloff