Earth

  1. Health & Medicine

    Breathe easy

    When it comes to heart function, the concentration of pollution in the air may matter less than its chemical makeup.

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  2. Plants

    Forest invades tundra

    The Arctic tundra is under assault from trees, with serious implications for global climate change.

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  3. Climate

    Now that’s abrupt

    Past abrupt climate change in the North Atlantic could have started as far south as China, scientists say.

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  4. Agriculture

    A vanilla Vanilla

    The orchid that gives us vanilla beans has startlingly low genetic diversity, suggesting crops might be susceptible to pathogens, researchers report.

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  5. Planetary Science

    Surprise found in comet dust

    Scientists find an odd mineral that could offer clues to the solar system's origins.

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  6. Earth

    Unintended consequences

    A full recovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica in the coming years could significantly boost warming of the atmosphere over and around the icy continent.

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  7. Humans

    Wash Your Veggies!

    The lesson in all of these food-poisoning outbreaks is that we must not expect a risk-free food-supply chain.

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  8. Climate

    Goldilocks tree leaves

    Leaves mostly keep their cool (or warmth) wherever they live, a finding that might affect reconstructions of past climates.

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  9. Climate

    Polar Bear Fallout

    Why fights are likely to break out in the next few months to years between industry, environmental advocates, and the feds as regulations are developed, and litigated, over how to conserve declining numbers of polar bears.

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  10. Climate

    Science academies call for climate action

    Thirteen national academies of science today called on world leaders to “to limit the threat of climate change.” Read more in the current Science & the Public blog by Janet Raloff.

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  11. Earth

    A rapid rise for the Andes

    New evidence suggests that the South American mountain chain shot up 2.5 kilometers in a geological blink of an eye.

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  12. Earth

    Tunguska, a century later

    Asteroid or comet blamed for Siberian blast of 1908

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