Earth

Earth

A Dam Shame? Project may slam China’s biodiversity

When the Three Gorges Dam begins to impound the waters of the Yangtze River in China later this year, dozens of mountains and other elevated areas upstream will become islands—an outcome that will probably devastate the rich diversity of species now living along the river.

Earth

When pollutants take the Arctic route

The highest North American concentrations of at least one air pollutant from Asia can be found in Newfoundland, the continent's easternmost region.

Earth

What’s happening to German eelpout?

Reproductive anomalies in eel-like fish may represent good markers of exposure to hormones or pollutants that mimic them.

Earth

Flame retardants morph into dioxins

Sunlight can break down common flame retardants, now nearly ubiquitous in the environment, into unusual chemicals in the dioxin family.

Earth

Reused paper can be polluted

Toxic chemicals can end up in recycled paper, making release of these reused materials into the environment potentially harmful.

Earth

Going Down? Probe could ride to Earth’s core in a mass of molten iron

A geophysicist suggests that scientists could explore Earth's inner structure by sending a grapefruit-size probe on a week-long mission to the Earth's core inside a crust-busting mass of molten iron.

Earth

Patterns from Nowhere

Scientists are developing geophysical models that may explain the polygonal patterns that appear in and on the ground in remote regions of the Arctic, Antarctica, and possibly the surface of Mars.

Earth

Farm Harm: Ag chemicals may cause prostate cancer

On-the-job exposure to certain agricultural chemicals may be responsible for farmers' high rates of prostate cancer.

Earth

The Fires Below

Underground coal fires help shape the landscape on many scales and in many ways, some transient and some long-lasting.

Earth

Sensing a vibe

A sprawling network of seismometers that covers the Los Angeles area could be adapted to provide warning of damaging ground motions from earthquakes in the seconds before those seismic vibes arrive.

Earth

Cars’ ammonia may sabotage tailpipe gains

Though cars' catalytic converters clean up some of the acidic contributors to urban haze and particulates pollution, a subset of these pollution-control devices seems to foster the production of ammonia, another pivotal ingredient in haze and particulates.

Earth

Harbor waves yield secrets to analysis

New findings by ocean scientists may help port officials in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, predict potentially destructive waves in the city's harbor.