Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Lead’s a moving target at rifle ranges
The lead used in bullets and shotgun pellets can be a threat to the environment near rifle ranges but many of its hazards are manageable.
- Earth
Choked Up: How dead zones affect fish reproduction
Some Gulf coast fish exposed to low oxygen are experiencing reproductive problems, and lab studies suggest that a particular protein that silences or reduces sex hormones may be to blame.
- Earth
DDT linked to miscarriages
A study of Chinese women finds that the pesticide DDT can not only affect menstrual cycles but also foster miscarriages very early in pregnancy.
- Earth
Can phthalates subtly alter boys?
Researchers have linked a mom's exposure to phthalates with a genital marker in boys suggesting a subtle feminization of their reproductive organs.
- Agriculture
Frozen Assets
A U.S. gene bank has begun deep-freezing semen and other livestock 'seed' for possible future use in research or breeding.
- Earth
Pesticide Disposal Goes Green
Chemists have developed a new technology to safely clean up toxic agricultural pesticides and a whole lot more.
- Earth
Fighting Water with Water: To lift the city, pump the sea beneath Venice
With technology commonly used in oil fields, engineers could inject large volumes of seawater into sandy strata deep beneath Venice, Italy, to reverse the ground subsidence that plagues the city.
- Earth
Dioxin-type carcinogens pose additive risks
Pollutants known as dioxins, furans, and certain chemically related polychlorinated biphenyls have additive cancer-causing effects when mixed together, as has been assumed in calculating the chemicals' health risks.
- Agriculture
Learning from Studs
Livestock gene banks offer dividends to researchers hoping to milk higher profits out of dairying.
- Earth
Change in the Weather? Wind farms might affect local climates
Large groups of power-generating windmills could increase wind speed, temperature, and ground-level evaporation, thereby influencing a region's climate.
- Earth
Extra rainfall may stem warming in Midwest
Increased precipitation in parts of the Midwest may reduce the temperature increases expected to occur in the next few decades as a result of global warming.
- Earth
Eye on Mount St. Helens
Keep an eye on the ongoing volcanic activity at Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington. Images taken by the Johnston Ridge Observatory’s VolcanoCam, at an elevation of about 4,500 feet, are updated roughly every 5 minutes. They’re snapped from a distance of about 5 miles from the volcano, looking approximately south-southeast across the […]
