Earth

Earth

Water Vapor by Any Other Name

One can learn a lot by studying clouds—or just relax and soak in their beauty. Subscribers to both schools can find plenty of fodder in the British Cloud Appreciation Society’s gallery of nearly 3,200 photos. They’re organized by meteorological type, optical effects, and even by what a cloud might resemble—like “Casper the Ghost, spotted over […]

Earth

The Salt Flat That Isn’t Flat: World’s largest playa sports ridges, valleys

An innovative field survey of the world's largest salt flat, a New Jersey–size playa high in the Andes, reveals that the barren expanse actually has minuscule, centimeter-scale variations in topography.

Agriculture

Lettuce Liability

A new industry program to self-regulate most salad producers is forcing affected farmers to choose between adopting measures unfriendly to wildlife and a loss of major markets for their greens.

Earth

Folding with a little help from friends

By slowly unraveling a protein, scientists have shown how other proteins called chaperones influence protein folding.

Earth

Falling Behind: North American terrain absorbs carbon dioxide too slowly

North America's vegetation soaks up millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, an impressive rate of sequestration that still can't keep up with the prodigious emissions of the planet-warming gas generated by human activity on the continent.

Earth

Hey, What about Us?

The plight of polar bears may get most of the attention as climate change disrupts the Arctic ice, but plenty of other species, from walrus and seals to one-celled specks, are also going to see their world change radically.

Earth

New climate sensor: Swiss grapes

Records of grape harvests reveal the summer climate in parts of Switzerland as far back as the 1400s.

Agriculture

Insects laughing at Bt toxin? Try this

A new countermeasure restores the toxicity of Bt pesticides to insects that have evolved resistance.

Earth

Yellowstone Rising: Magma floods into chamber beneath park

Some parts of the terrain in Yellowstone National Park have been rising as much as 7 centimeters per year as molten rock wells up beneath the park.

Agriculture

Silencing Pests: Altered plants make RNA that keeps insects at bay

Engineered plants make genetic material that disables critical genes in insects that eat the plants, offering a possible new strategy for agricultural-pest control.

Earth

Groundwater use adds CO2 to the air

Pumping out groundwater for crop irrigation or industrial purposes releases planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Agriculture

Cleaning Up after Livestock

Manure collection system sanitizes cattle wastes and makes hay—literally—while the sun shines.