Earth

Ecosystems

Forests on the wane

Early last decade, the world’s tree coverage dropped by more than 3 percent.

Space

Life in the sticky lane

Tropical asphalt lake could be analog for extraterrestrial microbial habitat.

Earth

Emerging Northwest fungal disease develops virulent Oregon strain

Uncommon but sometimes fatal infections of the lung or brain can show up months after someone inhales spores.

Agriculture

Rural ozone can be fed by feed (as in silage)

Livestock operations take a lot of flak for polluting. Researchers are now linking ozone to livestock, at least in one of the nation's most agriculturally intense centers. And here the pollution source is not what comes out the back end of an animal but what’s destined to go in the front.

Earth

Studies aim to resolve confusion over mercury risks from fish

Several new papers suggest strategies by which American diners can negotiate a mercury minefield to tap dietary benefits in fish.

Earth

Severe weather has favorite spots

New analyses of tornadoes and lightning highlight U.S. danger zones.

Humans

Mercury surprise: Rice can be risky

A new study out of China shows that for millions of people at risk of eating toxic amounts of mercury-laced food, fish isn't the problem. Rice is.

Earth

Ash from Icelandic eruption may just be the start

A recently awakened volcano often goes off in tandem with a much bigger one nearby.

Health & Medicine

Gulf War Syndrome real, Institute of Medicine concludes

U.S. veterans who claim to suffer from Gulf War Syndrome just received powerful new ammunition against arguments that their symptoms are trivial, if not altogether fictional. On April 9, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences issued a report that concludes military service in the Persian Gulf War has not only been a cause of post-traumatic stress disorder in some veterans but also is "associated with multisymptom illness” – as in Gulf War Syndrome.

Health & Medicine

Traffic’s soot elevates blood pressure

Legions of studies have shown that air pollution can harm the heart and blood vessels. Scientists now have linked airborne concentrations of tiny black-carbon particles — soot — with increasing blood pressure in older men. They also showed that the genes we inherit appear to play a big role in determining our vulnerability to soot’s pressurizing impacts.

Earth

A fresh look at Mount St. Helens

Nearly 30 years after the peak’s major eruption, recovery has just begun.

Humans

Water, water everywhere

Sid Perkins uncovers the amazing amount of “hidden water” in many consumer products.