Earth

  1. 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.

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  2. Earth

    Lizards threatened by warming

    Analysis suggests climate change could wipe out 20 percent of species, 39 percent of local populations.

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  3. Earth

    Earliest birds didn’t make a flap

    The feathers of Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis probably were not strong enough to support sustained flight.

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  4. Ecosystems

    Spill update: From booms to dispersants

    Choppy seas prevailed in the northern Gulf of Mexico on May 13, with even protected waters hostingrough 4 to 5 foot waves, according to the Coast Guard. But three-plus weeks into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and ensuing spill from a BP exploratory well, measures to respond to the catastrophe continued ramping up.

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  5. Chemistry

    Chinese would turn cigarette butts into steel’s guardian

    People smoke a lot of cigarettes, which leads to a lot of trash. Tom Novotny has done the math: An estimated 5.6 trillion butts each year end up littering the global environment. But Chinese researchers have a solution: recycling. Their new data indicate that an aqueous extract of stinky butts makes a great corrosion inhibitor for steel.

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  6. Chemistry

    Another plastics ingredient raises safety concerns

    Bisphenol A’s ‘twin’ may be more potent at perturbing estrogen signals.

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  7. Earth

    Archaeopteryx fossil seen in new light

    X-ray technique reveals original tissue in the feathers of a primitive bird fossil.

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  8. Earth

    Gravity lows mark burial sites of ancient tectonic plates

    Dips in Earth's gravitational field are tied to 'slab graveyards'

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  9. Environment

    Destination brain

    Inhaled pollutants may inflame more than the lungs.

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  10. Earth

    Atrazine paper’s challenge: Who’s responsible for accuracy?

    As a new critique of a review paper on atrazine suggests, some papers may simply overtax a journal’s fact-vetting enterprise. Which would be bad for science. And bad for society.

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  11. Chemistry

    Decon Green can clean up the most toxic messes, developers claim

    A new decontaminant could be a more benign alternative for cleaning up after chemical and biological accidents.

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  12. Tech

    A Gulf spill news review

    Oil companies have said it's possible the gusher could grow substantially before its capped.

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