Earth

Agriculture

Local Foods Could Make for Greener Grocers

There was a time not so long ago when people tended to select the ingredients for their meals either from what was available that week at local markets or from out-of-season home-canned, -smoked, or -pickled goods in the family larder. No longer. Maryland cooks can pick up New Zealand lamb or Icelandic salmon any time […]

Earth

Air Sickness

Studies have begun showing subtle but substantial harmful effects in outwardly healthy people who regularly breathe hazy air.

Earth

Long-Term Ocean Venting: Seafloor system has been active for ages

Analyses of mineral deposits in and around a unique set of hydrothermal vents beneath the Atlantic Ocean suggest that the site's tallest towers of minerals have been growing for at least 30,000 years.

Earth

Catch Zero

It generally has taken less than a generation for modern, industrial-scale fishing, once deployed in a new plot of ocean, to exhaust the vast majority of the sea’s edible bounty and leave behind decimated ecosystems and depleted economic opportunities.

Earth

Greenland ice variation appears normal

Changes in snowfall observed in parts of southern Greenland between 1978 and 1988 appear to be normal if gauged against the variations recorded in ice cores over the past 400 years.

Earth

Cooking up a key chemical of life

Researchers have simulated the conditions and ingredients found at hydrothermal vents to create pyruvic acid, an organic chemical vital for cellular metabolism.

Earth

Protective Blanket: Atmosphere blocks many small stony asteroids

A new computer model that more realistically simulates the aerodynamic forces on an object as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere suggests that the thin layer of air is an even better shield than previously thought.

Earth

National Atlas

Provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, this Web site features an interactive map generator that allows users to view and download custom maps of the United States. The maps access a database that includes information about the nation’s agriculture, biological resources, climate, environment, geology, history, transportation, watersheds, population distribution, county boundaries, and other […]

Earth

Digging for Fire: Burning peat underlies Mali’s hot ground

Superheated ground and smoking potholes in northern Mali are evidence not of volcanic activity but of a layer of peat that is burning 2 feet below the desert surface.

Earth

More Than a Miner Problem: Asbestos exposure is prevalent in mining community

A new study of the residents of Libby, Mont., confirms that even people who don't work with asbestos can have lung abnormalities caused by the mineral.

Earth

Double Trees: City trees grow bigger than country cousins

Clones of an Eastern cottonwood grow twice as well in the New York metropolitan sprawl as in rural New York State.

Earth

Antimosquito coils release toxic fumes

Researchers have measured several pollutants in smoke emitted from so-called mosquito coils, which people burn at night to fend off insects.