Earth

Life

Dinosaurs broiled, not grilled

Debris from K-T impact could have been heat source and heat shield.

Paleontology

New fossil helps solidify dino origins

The dog-sized creature bolsters the notion that early dinosaurs first appeared in what is now South America.

Earth

Earth’s atmosphere may be extraterrestrial in origin

Analyses of krypton, xenon hint that air didn’t fizz from within the planet.

Earth

The big spill: Flood could have filled Mediterranean in less than two years

Discovery of a distinctive channel and new calculations of possible water movement suggest a fast and furious flow formed the sea.

Ecosystems

Greening Christmas

I love the smell of balsam and firs and decorating holiday cookies – preferably with the sound of popular holiday standards in the background. I even enjoy shopping for and wrapping carefully chosen presents in seasonal papers festooned with huge bows. So when my hosts, this week, asked what I wanted to see during my visit, the answer was simple. Take me to one of Germany’s famed Christmas markets. And literally within a couple hours of my plane’s landing, they were already ushering me into the first of what would be a handful of such seasonal fairs. But as I also quickly learned, this first was an unusual one: a "green" bazaar.

Humans

Another livestock drug endangers vultures

After one veterinary NSAID almost wiped out vultures in South Asia, one of the possible replacements turns out to be toxic too.

Climate

EPA: Greenhouse gases still endanger health

In April, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that based on its reading of the science, greenhouse gases threaten public health. Since then, the public and legions of interest groups have weighed in on the subject, shooting EPA some 380,000 separate comments. “After a thorough examination of the scientific evidence and careful consideration of public comments on the ruling,” EPA today reiterated its so-called “endangerment” assessment of greenhouse gases

Life

Bacteria seen swimming the electron shuffle

Researchers have captured the bacterium Shewanella’s behavior on film, and the microbes didn’t behave as expected

Climate

Newspapers issue strong warning on climate

SN senior editor Janet Raloff blogs from Hamburg, Germany, before going to Copenhagen to attend the climate talks.

Earth

Countering Copenhagen’s Carbon Footprint

The United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, beginning Monday (Dec. 7), will draw legions of people to Copenhagen from 192 countries. Traveling to Denmark — sometimes from the far corners of the Earth — will expend huge amounts of energy. And spew plenty of the very carbon dioxide that the meeting negotiators are trying to rein in. So several bodies will be offsetting the carbon footprint of this gathering — with bricks. Or brick ovens, anyway.

Planetary Science

Pluto’s cloud components verified

Newly analyzed observations suggest that particles are tiny spherules of frozen nitrogen and carbon monoxide.

Earth

Ocean’s carbon dioxide uptake varies year to year

Data taken hourly by cargo ships show that how much of the greenhouse gas North Atlantic waters absorb varies more than thought.