Earth

Animals

Diversified portfolio yields benefit for salmon stocks

Local diversity keeps sockeye from going bust every few years, a study finds.

Archaeology

Jamestown settlers’ trash confirms hard times

Analyses of discarded oyster shells confirm a deep drought during the Virginia colony’s earliest years.

Ecosystems

Honeybee death mystery deepens

Government scientists link colony collapse disorder to mix of fungal and viral infections.

Paleontology

Octopus origins

After examining more than 90 new specimens of Nectocaris pteryx, paleontologists put it near the root of the cephalopod evolutionary tree.

Earth

BP’s estimate of spill rate is way low, engineer suggests

“It’s not rocket science.” That’s how a Purdue University mechanical engineer described his calculations of startling amounts of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from fissures in heavily damaged piping at a BP drill site. During a May 19 science briefing convened by a House subcommittee, Steve Wereley walked members of Congress through his use of particle image velocimetry to explain how he and other engineers track changes in video images of gases or liquids to estimate the volumes billowing before their eyes.

Chemistry

Exposure of moms-to-be to hormone-mimicking chemical may affect kids years later

In mice, BPA can cause pregnancy complications that can also trigger later metabolic effects in both moms and grown male offspring.

Climate

Oceans warmed in recent decades

Measurements show a trend of rising temperatures along with a leveling off since 2003.

Chemistry

A new source of dioxins: Clean hands

Manufacturers have been adding the germ fighter triclosan to soaps, hand washes, and a range of other products for years. But here’s a dirty little secret: Once it washes down the drain, that triclosan can spawn dioxins.

Earth

Interphone study finds hints of brain cancer risk in heavy cell-phone users

A major decade-long international study concludes that, overall, cell-phone users show no increased risk of developing brain tumors. The same study reports that among people who have used cell phones the most and longest — for at least 10 years and on average 30 minutes or more a day — risk of brain tumors is substantially elevated when compared to people who don’t use cell phones. And the real enigma: Tumor risks calculated for each of the lower cell-phone use categories was substantially under that seen in people who use regular, corded phones.

Earth

Interphone’s data on cell phones and cancer: The spin begins

A May 16 press release by the cell phone industry reports that “The International Journal of Epidemiology today published a combined data analysis from a multi national population-based case-control study of glioma and meningioma, the most common types of brain tumour.” In fact, the journal hasn’t. Yet. But the industry group was anxious to put its spin on the paper’s findings after a handful of UK newspapers reported on this study – well in advance of the scheduled lifting of a news embargo on its data.

Earth

Gulf spill: BP gets go ahead for full-scale underwater use of dispersants

All week, U.S. federal agencies have been evaluating an unprecedented use of oil dispersants: to break up crude spewing from the seafloor. BP won preliminary approval to try them in limited tests against an ongoing torrent of oil spewing from the base of a devastated exploration rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Late morning on May 15, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard issued their joint approval for a scale-up of the novel subsea application of these chemicals.

Chemistry

EPA issues greenhouse-gas rules for new factories and more

EPA released new rules on greenhouse-gas emissions for new power plants, factories and oil refineries — any big new facility, really that emits huge amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, or any of several other classes of chemicals. Existing facilities can continue to spew greenhouse gases at current levels.