Earth

  1. Climate

    Climate change stifling lemmings

    Warmer winter temperatures are altering the snowpack, squelching the rodents’ population booms.

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  2. Chemistry

    Oldest evidence for complex life in doubt

    Chemical biomarkers in ancient Australian rocks, once thought to be the oldest known evidence of complex life on Earth, may have infiltrated long after the sediments were laid down, new analyses suggest.

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  3. Chemistry

    From Aerators to Rust — New Lead Risks

    Rusty water and other unusual sources of toxic risks in home drinking water.

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  4. Chemistry

    Faucets Destined for Brassy Changes

    Although new standards poised to take effect in a few years will reduce the lead-leaching risk from drinking water faucets, showerheads and many other water dispensers around will remain unregulated.

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  5. Tech

    Lead-free? Faucets are anything but

    Featured blog: Users of brand-new buildings on a major university campus were surprised to discover high concentrations of lead in the water. Faucets were the culprit.

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  6. Chemistry

    Holey Copper Pipes!

    Engineers are homing in on germs and other surprises behind the development of tiny holes in home water pipes.

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  7. Animals

    Farm chemicals can indirectly hammer frogs

    A widely used agricultural weed killer teams up with fertilizer to render frogs especially vulnerable to debilitating parasites.

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  8. Earth

    The Case for Very Hot Water

    Turning down the thermostat on a home's water heater could foster the growth of toxic bacteria in home plumbing.

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  9. Earth

    Big Water Losses

    America's ailing water-delivery infrastructure is literally throwing clean water away -- and dirtying some of what it moves toward our taps.

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  10. Life

    Heat sensors guide insects to a hot meal

    Bugs home in on seeds by detecting infrared radiation.

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  11. Life

    Avian airlines: Alaska to New Zealand nonstop

    Tracked bar-tailed godwits break previous nonstop flight record for birds.

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  12. Humans

    Elephants’ struggle with poaching lingers on

    Even as African elephants struggle to recover from decades-old poaching, the animals face new and renewed threats today.

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