Earth

  1. Earth

    What’s New in the Water? Survey tallies emerging disinfection by-products

    By analyzing drinking-water samples from U.S. treatment plants, a multi-institute research team has identified some unexpected by-products of disinfection processes.

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  2. Earth

    Breaking Crust: Sonar finds new kind of deep-sea volcano

    Undersea explorations more than 600 kilometers east of Japan have discovered evidence of a previously unknown type of volcanism.

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  3. Earth

    Intrepid Explorer

    A robotic torpedo called an autonomous underwater vehicle has provided scientists with an unprecedented look at the underside of an Antarctic ice shelf.

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  4. Earth

    Sandy clues to ancient climate

    The orientation of dunes in north-central Nebraska indicates that the climate there a millennium ago was much different than it is today.

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  5. Agriculture

    Demand for Ethanol May Drive Up Food Prices

    The production of ethanol from corn and other crops for fuel could drive up food prices.

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  6. Earth

    Global warming heats up nursery of hurricanes

    Sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean reached record highs last year.

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  7. Earth

    Alaskan coral beds get new protection

    To protect cold-water corals, huge areas of Alaskan waters will be off limits to trawls and other fishing gear that typically scrape the seafloor.

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  8. Earth

    Radiation Redux: Forest fires remobilize fallout from bomb tests

    A sensor installed to monitor fallout from modern nuclear tests has detected small amounts of radioactive cesium produced by bomb tests decades ago and sent skyward by forest fires.

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  9. Earth

    Asbestos fibers: Barking up a tree

    Sixteen years after a mine with asbestos-contaminated ore shut down, trees in the area still hold hazardous concentrations of wind-deposited asbestos.

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  10. Earth

    Warning: Slow down for whales

    To protect a major population of right whales, the U.S. government is proposing periodic go-slow rules for big ships passing through the animals' migration routes.

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  11. Agriculture

    Farm Fresh Pesticides

    For people who live near croplands, traces of agricultural chemicals can find their way into homes by hitchhiking on windblown dust.

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  12. Earth

    Visiting RadTown

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched an interactive Web site that uses an animated town to provide basic information on radiation in the environment—from lasers in a stadium light show to x rays at the dentist’s office. This virtual community shows the wide variety of radiation sources commonly encountered in everyday life. The site […]

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