Earth

  1. Health & Medicine

    Bad air for growing brains and minds

    Preliminary evidence suggests that children’s regular exposure to heavy air pollution can be accompanied by brain inflammation and lowered scores on intelligence tests.

    By
  2. Life

    Climate warms, creatures head for the hills

    Unusual data let scientists test predictions that global warming drives species up slopes.

    By
  3. Earth

    Lake Superior’s ups and downs

    Analyses of trees and other organic material buried in a riverbank near Lake Superior’s northwestern shore shed new light on how much and when the lake level varied soon after the last ice age.

    By
  4. Earth

    Pterodactyls may soar once more

    Paleontologists and aeronautical engineers are designing a reconnaissance drone that will mimic the flight of an ancient flying reptile.

    By
  5. Humans

    Arctic warming chills interest in fishing

    Featured blog: An October 7 accord could put U.S. Arctic waters off-limits to fishing.

    By
  6. Earth

    World’s largest tsunami debris

    Seven immense coral boulders — one of them a three-story-tall, 1,200-metric-ton monster — have been found far inland on a Tongan island and may be the world's largest tsunami debris.

    By
  7. Earth

    When trees grew in Antarctica

    Fossils of trees that grew in Antarctica millions of years ago suggest a growth pattern much different than modern trees.

    By
  8. Earth

    Earthquake history recorded in stalagmites

    Where stalagmites start and stop in caves could offer more precise clues about when major earthquakes have hit (and could again hit) the Midwest.

    By
  9. Earth

    A near-record Arctic melting

    This summer, the area covered by Arctic sea ice dropped to its second-lowest since satellite measurements began in 1979.

    By
  10. Earth

    Sea-level history off the ice

    For the first time, researchers have assembled a comprehensive record of how sea level varied between 542 million and 251 million years ago, more than doubling previous timelines for such fluctuations.

    By
  11. Chemistry

    Fluorescent bulbs offer mercury advantage

    Featured blog: Switching to light bulbs that contain mercury might, surprisingly, reduce overall mercury releases to the environment. Plus, what to do when you break your fluorescent bulb.

    By
  12. Earth

    Let’s Get Vertical

    City buildings offer opportunities for farms to grow up instead of out.

    By