Earth

  1. Earth

    Lab tests hint at where xenon hides out

    Results of recent experiments in which scientists squeezed a mixture of xenon and powdered quartz at high temperatures and pressures may explain why the gas is found at relatively low concentrations in the atmosphere.

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  2. Earth

    TB Dilemma: Badger refugees complicate culling

    Two new analyses bring an ironic twist to the heated debate over whether badgers in Britain should be killed to prevent them from spreading tuberculosis among cattle.

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  3. Earth

    Glacial Change: Greenland’s ice loss doubled in 2005

    A host of observations suggests that Greenland's ice sheet diminished this year at a rate more than twice that seen just a few years ago.

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  4. Earth

    Microbe polishes off pollutant

    Researchers have determined how long a pesticide residue would remain in the environment if the microbe Pseudomonas pavonaceae didn't metabolize it.

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  5. Earth

    Changes in the Air

    Changes in the atmospheric concentration of oxygen through geologic time, some gradual and some drastic, have strongly shaped evolution among many types of creatures.

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  6. Earth

    Is Teddy a pollution magnet?

    Stuffed toys can accumulate high concentrations of potentially toxic air pollutants.

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  7. Earth

    Elevated pesticide threatens amphibians

    The survival of certain mountain-dwelling amphibians may be threatened by toxic pesticides that are blown uphill from distant agricultural lands in California's Central Valley.

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  8. Agriculture

    Organic Doesn’t Mean Free of Pesticides

    Even organic produce, especially root crops, can carry trace residues of long-banned pesticides.

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  9. Earth

    Nonstick Taints: Fluorochemicals are in us all

    A new federal study strongly suggests that all U.S. residents harbor measurable traces of fluorochemicals, compounds found in a host of consumer products.

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  10. Earth

    Roots of Climate: Plants’ water transport cools Amazon basin

    Field tests in the Amazon have for the first time measured daily and seasonal movements of soil moisture through the deep roots of trees.

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  11. Earth

    Antibiotics afield

    Antibiotics shed by livestock in manure can end up in crops or bound to soil, where they can foster disease-resistant germs.

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  12. Earth

    Global Wetting and Drying: Regions face opposing prospects for water supply

    In the next half century, rivers and streams in some parts of the world will diminish in flow, while waterways elsewhere rise in output, according to a new analysis of climate simulations.

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