Earth
- Humans
Bear deadline
Court calls for the already overdue decision on listing polar bears as a threatened species.
- Earth
Molten salts give biofuels a boost
Making biofuels from the chemical energy locked in plant cell walls has proven difficult, but molten salts may help.
- Ecosystems
Building Homes Where the Buffalo Roamed
A new study finds that being environmentally conscious is no guarantee you’ll put your home where you mouth is.
- Humans
The Return of EPA’s Libraries
After mothballing five libraries as a purported cost-cutting gesture, the agency is now responding to congressional prodding and unboxing its books.
- Climate
Science News for Kids: Polar Ice Feels the Heat
From glaciers to sea ice, the big melt is on.
- Earth
Climate fix could deplete polar ozone
Scientists seeking to cool Earth’s climate by injecting sulfuric acid droplets high in the atmosphere might trim rising temperatures but could also destroy much of the ozone in polar regions, a new study suggests.
- Ecosystems
Eight-legged bags of poison
Birds eating arachnids get high dose of toxic metal as mercury climbs up the food chain.
- Ecosystems
Beetle attack overturns forest carbon regime
Ravaged Canadian region switches from carbon sink to net carbon source.
- Agriculture
Study decodes papaya genome
Scientists have added another plant to the genome-sequencing roster: the tropical fruit tree papaya.
- Earth
Melt pond falls through ice in Greenland
A lake of meltwater atop Greenland's ice sheet wedged open a crack in the underlying ice that drained the lake dry.
- Environment
Down with Carbon
Scientists are exploring strategies for capturing carbon dioxide and storing it safely away in order to limit the levels of that greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
- Earth
BOOK LIST | A Grain of Sand: Nature’s Secret Wonder
Beautiful photos of sand grains up close reveal surprising diversity. Text describes a sand grain’s journey from mountain to beach. A GRAIN OF SAND Voyageur Press, 2008, 112 p. $20.
