Earth
- Math
Unnatural selection
Inflicting damage on targeted species can help preserve perturbed ecosystems.
- Earth
Glaciers largely stable in one range of Himalayas
Amid icy retreats in neighboring ranges, ice in Karakoram region may even be growing, thanks to debris cover.
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- Earth
2010 ties record for warmest year yet
El Ni±o heated things up even as global temperatures continue to rise in the hottest decade on record.
- Paleontology
Early meat-eating dinosaur unearthed
Pint-sized, two-legged runner from Argentina dates back to the dawn of the dinos, 230 million years ago.
- Humans
Night owls may want to dim their lights
People who spend their evenings in relatively bright light run the risk of stressing their bodies by ratcheting down the production of melatonin. This hormone plays a pivotal role in setting the body’s biological clock – and, potentially, in limiting the development of certain cancers.
- Life
Aspens bust, diseased mice boom
As trees decline, populations of rodents that carry the deadly sin nombre virus are on the rise.
- Science & Society
Methane from BP spill goes missing
Latest sampling suggests either that microbes have already devoured the most abundant hydrocarbon produced by the leak — or that researchers have simply lost track of it.
- Paleontology
An ammonite’s last supper
A detailed X-ray image of a fossil reveals an ancient marine creature’s diet.
- Paleontology
Oceans may have poisoned early animals
High sulfur and low oxygen produced a deadly brew nearly 500 million years ago that apparently stalled a burst of evolutionary change.
- Life
Flower sharing may be unsafe for bees
Wild pollinators are catching domesticated honeybee viruses, possibly by touching the same pollen.
- Earth
Bugged forests bad for climate
Trees savaged by pine beetles are slow to recover their ecological function as greenhouse gas sponges.
