Earth
Sign up for our newsletter
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Chemistry
Nanosilver disinfects — but at what price?
Silver demonstrates some unusual immunological impacts at the nanoscale.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Marine pollution spawns ‘wonky babies’
Featured blog: Pollutants at sea can slow critters' sperm or induce DNA damage.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Plate tectonics got an early start
The chemistry of minerals preserved in Australian rocks suggests tectonic activity for Earth’s earliest eon.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Antidepressants make for sad fish
Fish may suffer substantially from even brief encounters with antidepressants, which wastewater releases into river water.
By Janet Raloff - Paleontology
Bacteria may play big role in forming fossils
Bacteria can build a biofilm that preserves a tissue's structure.
By Sid Perkins - Humans
Is Your Fish Oil Polluted?
Clues to gauging the likely purity of fish-oil capsules.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
When Not to Flush
Toilets are not where we should be disposing of unwanted medicines.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Antidepressants Aren’t for Fish
Antidepressants can play potentially dangerous mind games with fish.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
What an Acid Bath!
One fallout of space shuttle launches can be a transient change in water pH.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
It’s Night: Why’s It So Light?
We're wasting scads of energy while much of the world sleeps.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Subglacial lakes flood, glaciers speed up
Floods that occasionally surge from immense lakes trapped beneath the Antarctic ice sheet can significantly affect the flow rate of overlying glaciers, a new study shows.
By Sid Perkins - Life
Supreme Court lifts restriction on Navy sonar testing
Justices overturn restrictions that require Navy to stop using sonar when marine mammals are within 2,200 yards of vessels.