Earth
- Chemistry
Idling jets pollute more than thought
Oily droplets emitted by planes operating at low power can turn into potentially toxic airborne particles.
- Life
Animals quickly colonized freshwater
Fossilized worm burrows show that life had moved beyond the oceans by 530 million years ago.
- Earth
Earth/Environment
So much for the man-sized snail, plus Indonesia’s quake risk, overheated reefs and more in this week’s news.
- Life
Fungus strikes but doesn’t kill European bats
Organism that is devastating North American populations might have coevolved with hosts overseas.
- Earth
Warming dents corn and wheat yields
Rising temperatures have decreased global grain production and may be partly responsible for food price increases.
- Life
Giant ants once roamed Wyoming
The first complete fossil found in North America suggests warm spells in the far north allowed big insects to spread.
- 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.
