Earth

Earth

Earth: Science news of the year, 2008

Science News writers and editors looked back at the past year's stories and selected a handful as the year's most interesting and important in Earth. Follow hotlinks to the full, original stories.

Earth

Corals, turfgrass and sediments offer stories of climate past and future

Science News reports from San Francisco at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union

Health & Medicine

EPA should test demasculinizing pollutants collectively, NRC says

Cumulative effects of phthalates and related compounds likely larger than effects measured one chemical at a time, reports a National Research Council panel.

Climate

Holdren to Head White House Science

It appears that another physicist with Nobel ties is set to become the primary Obama adviser on science.

Ecosystems

Thwarting Tree Poachers

A new federal rule makes it harder to destroy protected forests.

Earth

Surprise find taps into magma

In a scientific first, engineers drill into a subterranean pocket of molten rock.

Earth

Severe heat and cold top list of deadly natural hazards

Data compilation by region, type of hazards shows deaths from more frequent events accumulate into significant numbers. Lightning strikes also high on the list.

Earth

Solar wind pushes atmospheric breathing

New analyses of satellite data show that cycles of expansion and contraction are tied to changes in the solar wind.

Earth

Improved Cars: Chu on It

Hey Detroit: Lighten up, the incoming Energy Secretary recommends.

Tech

Holiday Gifts: Blog Sites

Sample other blogs and let us know of notables that we missed that are also worth sharing.

Earth

Reef record suggests impending Sumatra quakes

Evidence of seafloor rise and fall shows southern Sumatra is at start of new earthquake cycle.

Chemistry

ENV Tidbits: Corals, nano concerns, and more

News nuggets on climate-imperiled corals, nanotech worries, and soft drinks bearing pesticides.