Earth

  1. 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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  2. 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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  3. 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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  4. 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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  5. 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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  6. Earth

    Beware summer radon-test results

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

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  7. Earth

    Cholesterol boosts diesel toxicity

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

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  8. Earth

    Hammered Saws

    Sawfish, shark relatives that almost went extinct several decades ago, have now gained protection by international treaty.

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  9. Earth

    Asian Forecast: Hazy, Warmer—Clouds of pollution heat lower atmosphere

    Clouds of smoke and soot that blanket many regions of Asia heat the lower atmosphere by the same amount that rising greenhouse gases do.

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  10. Earth

    Slick Death: Oil-spill treatment kills coral

    Chemicals used to disperse marine oil spills are more harmful to coral than the oil itself.

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  11. Earth

    Metal spews from tires and brake pads

    A study in Stockholm says that tires and brake pads emit a variety of metal pollutants despite European regulations aimed at cleaning up these parts.

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  12. Earth

    Light reaches deep in southeast Pacific

    In a remote part of the southeastern Pacific where marine life is sparse, ultraviolet light penetrates to unprecedented depths.

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