Earth

Earth

Methane Maker: Method gets to root of gas from rice paddies

Scientists have singled out microorganisms that appear to be largely responsible for natural emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from rice paddies.

Earth

Study finds low battlefield hazard in depleted uranium

A calculation of the health impacts from the use of depleted uranium in antitank munitions projects small increases in the risk of lung cancer and colon cancer, but only for the most heavily exposed individuals.

Agriculture

Feds pull approval of poultry antibiotic

The FDA has announced its intent to ban an antibiotic used by poultry farmers because of concerns that continued use of the drug could make it harder to successfully treat food poisoning in people with products from the same class of antibiotics.

Earth

Infants pick up toxic chemicals in intensive care

Newborns in intensive care units absorb high concentrations of a potentially toxic phthalate from the plastic tubing and other equipment used in treating them.

Earth

Multifaceted Mineral: Intense heat, pressure bear new form of silica

By squeezing a mineral sample to pressures higher than those deep within Earth, then zapping it with a laser, scientists have created a crystalline form of silicon dioxide previously unknown on Earth.

Earth

Life thrived below solid ice shelf

A survey of a segment of Antarctic seafloor that until recently had laid beneath a thick, floating ice shelf for thousands of years has revealed an ecosystem apparently based on chemical nourishment, not sunshine.

Earth

Hurricanes get boost from ocean spray

A new model that describes airflow across the ocean's surface suggests that tiny droplets whipped from the tops of waves increase wind speeds well above what they'd be if the ocean spray wasn't there.

Earth

Great river cycles carbon quickly

Some of the organic material carried to the sea by the Amazon is thousands of years old, but much of the carbon in carbon dioxide emanating from the river was stored in plants for less than a decade.

Earth

What’s Gotten into Everybody? Survey of bodily contaminants finds encouraging declines and new exposures

The U.S. population's exposure to lead, secondhand smoke, and certain other harmful chemicals has trended downward, but some newly measured contaminants are present in a sizable fraction of the nation's residents, according to an updated report.

Earth

Weighty evidence on testicular cancer

New evidence supports a theory that men who were exposed to excess estrogenic hormones at an early stage of fetal development may face an elevated risk of testicular cancer.

Earth

Under Pressure: High-stress tests show surprising change in a mantle mineral’s behavior

Compressing a common iron-bearing mineral to the pressures found deep within Earth makes the material much stiffer, which might explain why seismic waves travel particularly fast through some zones of rock.

Earth

Ultrasound solution to toxin pollution

Ultrasound treatment of water can generate reactive chemicals that destroy potentially lethal algal toxins.