Earth

  1. Life

    Brittle arms lose muscle

    In lab simulations of future ocean conditions, brittle stars grow extra-calcified but puny arms.

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  2. Agriculture

    Ethanol Fallout: Health Risks for Livestock

    With Uncle Sam pushing the production of ethanol for fuel, U.S. farmers are planting more corn than at any time since World War II, and garnering premium prices for each harvested bushel. But many livestock operations are getting hit with a double whammy: higher feeds costs and corn-derived feed that’s carrying triple the normal load of fungal poisons.

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  3. Earth

    Babbitt to Southern Louisiana: Look into Gondolas

    “New Orleans, at the end of the century, will be an island” — literally, predicts Bruce Babbitt. Whether or not you believe his assessment, he makes a good case for considering the implications of climate change when planning federal projects.

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  4. Climate

    Air Pollution Can Be So Cool — ing

    Fossil-fuel pollution has been offsetting global warming to the tune of about 30 percent per year. Cleaning up that pollution, a must, threatens to accelerate warming unless humanity changes its fuel-use strategy.

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  5. Life

    The Arctic isn’t alone

    Insects and other animals that regulate their body temperature externally may be especially vulnerable as the world warms.

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  6. Earth

    A Feverish World

    What's behind global warming—and is there anything we can do?

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Rice Woes, Pt. 1

    A shortfall in rice production has been developing well under the radar screen of agricultural economists and growers. The bad news: It promises to get much worse, and fairly soon.

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  8. Earth

    Challenging ethanol’s dirty reputation

    An inexpensive way to make ethanol from wood chips reduces net greenhouse gas emissions as much as more costly methods.

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  9. Climate

    Olympic Clean Up

    Rather than wowing its visitors this summer with world-class air pollution, China wants to impress them with its clean, green Olympics.

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  10. Earth

    In the aftermath

    The charcoal left after a forest fire stimulates microbial activity that boosts carbon loss from organic material covering the ground.

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  11. Earth

    It’s the meat not the miles

    Eating less red meat and dairy may do more to reduce food-associated greenhouse gas emissions than shopping locally.

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  12. Earth

    Heat relief

    A new data-rich climate model foresees a short-term reprieve from warming for parts of western Europe and North America.

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