Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Agriculture
Slugging It Out with Caffeine
Anyone who has raised tomatoes in a moist environment knows the tell-tale sign: Overnight, a ripe, juicy orb sustains a huge, oozing wound. If you arrive early, you might catch the dastardly culprit: a slug. In one test, scientists sprayed soil with dilute caffeine and then watched as slugs, like this one, made haste to […]
- Earth
Pharm Pollution
Antibiotics in sewage sludge and manure have the potential to poison plants or end up in food.
- Earth
Famed undersea vent may be lost
When scientists last month tried to revisit an undersea hydrothermal vent first discovered nearly a quarter of a century ago, they found the site desolate, possibly paved by a fresh volcanic eruption.
- Earth
Mangled microfossils may mark impact sites
Scientists studying sediment cores drilled in eastern Virginia say they’ve possibly identified a new clue to the locations of ancient, hidden impact craters: Just look for broken or twisted microbial fossils.
- Earth
Presto, Change-o!
Compared with the snail's-pace processes that normally shape Earth's surface, the impacts of extraterrestrial objects change our planet's geology in a flash.
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- Environment
Old thermometers pose new problems
Though health groups advocate getting mercury thermometers out of the home, obtaining sound advice on how to dispose of the thermometers can be problematic.
- Earth
Most oil enters sea from nonaccidents
Nearly all of the oil entering the marine environment traces not to accidents but to natural seeps and human activities where releases are intentional.
- Earth
Mapping the Frozen Sky: Study looks at clouds from both sides now
By combining simultaneous observations from satellites and ground-based instruments, scientists can generate a three-dimensional map of the size and distribution of ice particles in a cirrus cloud.
- Earth
The Air That’s Up There
Researchers are exploring how trees affect the chemistry of the atmosphere.
- Earth
Shelter from Space Storms: Energy rebounds from Earth
NASA satellite observations show that Earth's outer atmosphere interacts dramatically with the solar wind and shields the planet from it.
- Earth
Honey may pose hidden toxic risk
Many honeys may contain potentially toxic traces of potent liver-damaging compounds produced naturally by a broad range of flowering plants.
