Earth

  1. Earth

    Arctic snow was dirtier in early 1900s

    Arctic snow collects less soot now than it did a century ago, but it's still dirtier than it was before the Industrial Revolution.

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  2. Earth

    Don’t Bite the Dust

    Several studies show that children and adults accumulate substantial amounts of the flame retardants called PBDEs—from food, breast milk, and probably house dust.

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  3. Earth

    O River Deltas, Where Art Thou? Coastal sinking stalls sediment accumulation

    The western coast of Siberia lacks river deltas because of the way the terrain has subsided since the end of the last ice age.

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  4. Earth

    Cat disease associated with flame retardants

    An epidemic of hyperthyroidism in house cats may be the result of environmental exposure to certain flame retardants.

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  5. Earth

    It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature

    Throwing tiny particles into the atmosphere to counteract global warming could cause extended droughts and other weather disruptions.

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  6. Earth

    Cellulose Dreams

    Turning cellulose from plants into ethanol for fuel could help lower greenhouse-gas emissions—but the conversion is far from straightforward.

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  7. Earth

    How reading may protect the brain

    People who read well show more resistance to the toxic brain effects of lead exposure.

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  8. Agriculture

    Living Rust

    Mention rust, and most of us think of the oxidized metal that signals the aging and decay of cars, fences, and bolts on the backyard deck. However, many plants also suffer from rust—in this case, fungal diseases named for their characteristic reddish-orange color. With a particularly virulent example known as Ug99 (see Wheat Warning—New Rust […]

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  9. Earth

    Drug Overflow: Pharmaceutical factories foul waters in India

    A treatment plant in India that processes waste from drug factories feeds enormous amounts of antibiotics and other drugs into local waterways.

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  10. Earth

    Bad for Baby: New risks found for plastic constituent

    Early exposure to bisphenol A, a building block of polycarbonate plastics, can trigger a variety of later health problems.

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  11. Earth

    Beware summer radon-test results

    Measuring household radon levels in summer may give misleadingly low results.

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  12. Earth

    Cholesterol boosts diesel toxicity

    Nanoparticles in diesel exhaust can activate genes that worsen cholesterol's damaging effects.

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