Earth

Earth

Earth/Environment

How Antarctica got its ice, plus Chinese dust-ups and rising bird malaria in this week’s news.

Earth

Grand Canyon born by continental lift

A "drip" deep within the Earth may have raised the Colorado plateau to create the spectacular landscape of the U.S. Southwest.

Earth

With warming, Arctic is losing ground

Scientists anticipate big ecosystem changes as erosion spills nutrients into the sea

Earth

Currents reach deep for seafloor larvae

Surface waters circulate more than a mile down, transporting organisms between distant ocean-bottom habitats.

Life

Antarctic humpbacks make a krill killing

Late-arriving sea ice enhances crustacean feast for whales, but the bounty may be fleeting.

Earth

Volcanic ash gets its close-up

Last year’s eruption in Iceland spit out supersharp and potentially harmful particles, nanoscale images show.

Earth

Earth/Environment

Anticorrosion chemicals, ancient Arkansas rock, stowaway species and more in this week’s news.

Physics

Salt clouds relieve some Arctic warming

Sea sprays from increasingly open waters exert a cooling effect in the region.

Humans

Because some foods carry organophosphate residues

Three new papers link prenatal exposures to organophosphate (OP) pesticides with diminished IQs in children. Fruits and veggies are one continuing source of exposure to these bug killers. As to what we’re supposed to do with that knowledge — well, the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, offers some guidance.

Earth

Ozone loss made tropics rainier

Hole over Antarctica changes weather patterns all the way to the equator, simulations suggest.

Chemistry

Pesticides tied to lower IQ in children

Chemicals once sprayed in homes — and still used on farms — were found to have significant effects in three studies.

Earth

Earth/Environment

Breakfast may help get the lead out, plus burrowing trilobites and warmer truffles in this week's news