Earth
- 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.
- Earth
Clay That Kills: Ground yields antibacterial agents
A special type of French clay smothers a diverse array of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains and a particularly nasty pathogen that causes skin ulcers.
- Earth
The Big Dry
Parts of Australia have suffered from severe drought for more than a decade, and people, vegetation, and animals are feeling the heat.
- Earth
Bad Acid: Ocean’s pH drop threatens snail defense
As ocean waters trend toward acidity, a result of atmospheric greenhouse gas buildup, a shoreline snail's defense against predatory crabs may weaken.
- Earth
Arctic sea ice falls to modern low
The area of sea ice in the Arctic is at its lowest in nearly three decades of satellite monitoring.
- Earth
A different spin
A change in the properties of Earth's mantle at high pressure and temperature may influence seismic waves in a novel way.
- Earth
Invasive, Indeed
Some people may live lightly on the land, but the demands of the world's population as a whole consume nearly a quarter of Earth's total biological productivity.
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- Earth
Iron to blame
Typhoons that drench Madagascar and spill iron-rich runoff into the Indian Ocean account for that region's massive but sporadic algal blooms.
