Earth
- Agriculture
Cocoa yields are mushrooming—downward
A mushroom epidemic in Brazilian cacao trees, which has cut the production of cacao by 25 percent in 5 years, may be treatable with another fungus.
- Earth
Plants seen as unpredictable carbon sponge
Changing land-use practices—especially in forests, croplands, and fallow areas—appear to play a far bigger role than anticipated in determining how much carbon gets removed from the air by vegetation.
- Earth
Hey polluters! This billboard’s for you
Motorists generally like and respond to personalized billboard messages about when an engine tune-up may be warranted.
- Earth
Pollution Keeps Rain up in the Air
New satellite data indicate that aerosol pollution can break up water droplets in clouds and stop rain.
- Agriculture
Afghanistan’s Seed Banks Destroyed
On Sept. 10, scientists in Kabul reported the loss of Afghanistan’s principal agricultural insurance policy: two stores of carefully collected seeds, materials selected to represent the genetic diversity of native crops. Here, some of the wheat seed brought into the country by a convoy, this spring, is being stored pending redistribution to Afghan farmers. USAID […]
- Agriculture
Sprawling over croplands
Satellite imagery indicates that sprawling urban development has been disproportionately gobbling up those lands best able to support crops.
- Earth
Chinese records show typhoon cycles
Historical records compiled by local governments along China's southeastern coast during the past 1,000 years suggest that there's a 50-year cycle in the annual number of typhoons that strike the area.
- Earth
Cave formations yield seismic clues
Analyses of toppled stalagmites and other fallen rock formations in two Israeli caves may provide hints about the rate of ancient earthquakes in the area.
- Earth
Recent heat may indicate faster warming
A new analysis of temperature records indicates that global warming may be picking up its pace.
- Earth
Uncertainty returns over sex-change fish
Scientists question whether a potentially gender-bending hormone found in polluted Florida streams is responsible for masculinized female fish.
- Earth
Climate’s Long-Lost Twin
New geological evidence suggests that humans have started exploiting fossil fuels and altering Earth's atmosphere at precisely the moment when greenhouse gases could do the most damage to climate.
- Earth
Global Impact: Space object may have spread debris worldwide
Sediments laid down about 3.47 billion years ago in what are now western Australia and eastern South Africa contain remnants of what may have been an extraterrestrial-object impact large enough to disperse debris over the entire planet.
