Earth
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Agriculture
Study decodes papaya genome
Scientists have added another plant to the genome-sequencing roster: the tropical fruit tree papaya.
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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.
By Sid Perkins -
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.
By Sid Perkins -
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.
By Science News -
Climate
Researchers rethink fate of celebrity plankton
A poster-species for the hazards of greenhouse gas accumulation thrives in carbon dioxide-rich waters.
By Susan Milius -
Earth
Here’s a Title We’ll Gladly Relinquish
China appears to be the world leader in carbon-dioxide emissions, but we may be partly to blame.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Britain’s biggest meteorite strike
An unusual layer of rock found along Britain's northwestern coast formed from the debris thrown out of a crater when a meteorite struck nearby more than 1 billion years ago.
By Sid Perkins -
Earth
Refuge for the resilient
Some conservationists recommend creating marine parks in areas most likely to survive climate change.
By Amy Maxmen -
Earth
Naming Your Tax Write-Off
You can name this newly discovered sea slug — or nudibranch — housed in the Scripps Oceanographic Collections. The catch: It’ll cost you. But that “donation” will be tax deductible.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Sense of Wonder Contest
Rachel Carson aficionados will recognize The Sense of Wonder as the title of one of that environmentalist’s books. The Environmental Protection Agency is using that title to invite people young and old—literally and collaboratively—to explore that sense in poetry, essays, and photography. It’s inviting submissions from intergenerational teams “that best express the ‘Sense of Wonder’ […]
By Science News -
Earth
Tibetan Plateau history gets a lift
The Tibetan Plateau formed when the Indian and Eurasian plates collided, but scientists may have had the order of events wrong.
By Amy Maxmen