Environment (pre 2009)


16 December 2008

Saltwater irrigation trial a success


New research offers the possibility of using saltwater to irrigate soil in the world's arid regions, turning previously unusable land into a sustainable and productive agricultural resource...

18 November 2008

Pesticides at "safe" levels combine to form deadly cocktail


Concentrations of the ten most widely used pesticides that fall within EPA safe-exposure levels, when combined, form an extremely toxic mixture that is deadly to amphibians and may represent a significant threat to humans in the future...

17 November 2008

Mystery microbe forces rethink of ocean ecology


A newly discovered microorganism that lives in the open ocean is able to "fix" nitrogen but does not rely on photosynthesis for energy, forcing scientists to revise their understanding of how carbon and nitrogen cycle through ocean ecosystems...

3 November 2008

One-third of world's fish catches being needlessly used as animal feed


In flagrant disregard of the worsening overfishing crisis in our oceans, an alarming new study contends that one-third of the world's ocean fish catches are ground up and fed to farm-raised livestock...

25 September 2008

Boulder debris indicates biggest ever tsunami


A line of massive boulders on the western shore of Tonga could be evidence of the most powerful volcano-triggered tsunami ever, dwarfing even the 1883 Krakatau (Krakatoa) tsunami which is estimated to have been over 100 feet high...

14 August 2008

Slimy Future Predicted For World's Oceans


Habitat destruction, overfishing, ocean warming, increased acidification and massive nutrient runoff are combining to turn Earth's oceans into simplistic ecosystems dominated by microbes, toxic algal blooms, jellyfish and disease...

22 July 2008

Monsoon Formation Theory Gets Overhaul


Geoscientists have come up with a new explanation for the formation of monsoons, proposing an overhaul of a theory that had held firm for more than 300 years...

7 July 2008

Farmlands Too Toxic For Amphibians


Zoologists have found that toads in busy suburban areas are less likely to suffer from reproductive system abnormalities than toads near farms - where some of the amphibians examined had both testes and ovaries...

3 July 2008

Species Extinction Threat Vastly Underestimated


Extinction risks for populations of endangered species are likely being underestimated by as much as 100-fold because of a mathematical "misdiagnosis," suggests a new study...

9 June 2008

The Food Crisis Wildcard: Ozone


Ozone, a pollutant which can damage plants and reduce crop yields, will likely exacerbate the current global food crisis, says a scientist who believes that the new EPA standards to combat rising ozone levels will not be enough to protect plants from its effects...

26 May 2008

Scientists Mull Earthquake Love Waves


A new study shows that large earthquakes routinely trigger smaller jolts worldwide, sometimes as far away as on the opposite side of the planet and in areas not normally prone to quakes...

19 May 2008

Grandpa's Soap Alive And Kicking


Examining East Coast estuaries, researchers have established that the endocrine disruptors triclosan and triclocarban, used in soaps and other personal care products, are still persisting in sediment after up to 50 years, with little degradation...

6 May 2008

Fungi Enlisted To Clean-Up Depleted Uranium


In a discovery that could have important implications for the clean-up of war ravaged countries, researchers have found evidence that fungi can "lock" depleted uranium into a mineral form that would be less likely to find its way into plants, animals, or the water supply...

2 April 2008

Under Pressure: Earth Science (Part II)


This week we continue with a top ten list of urgent Earth science questions devised by a group of leading Earth science experts at the behest of the National Research Council...

17 March 2008

Under Pressure: Earth Science (Part I)


In order to better understand our volatile planet, a bunch of US scientific agencies recently encouraged leading Earth science boffins to bang their heads together to identify the 10 most pressing Earth science questions...

4 March 2008

Bacterial Rainmakers Ubiquitous


Scientists have uncovered evidence linking airborne bacteria from plants to the cycle of precipitation, underscoring the complex interplay between our planet's climate and biosphere...

4 February 2008

California's Water Supply Dwindling


The snowpack in the Sierras has shrunk by 20 percent thanks to our warming climate, leading researchers to warn of a looming water crisis in the Western United States...

29 January 2008

Something Fishy About Rocketing Oceanic Nitrogen Levels


The collapse of fishing grounds from over-fishing has played a significant role in disturbing the balance between nitrogen entering and leaving coastal water systems...

14 January 2008

High Levels Of Antibiotic Resistance In Arctic Birds


Researchers are alarmed that remote colonies of Arctic birds are carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria...

7 January 2008

How Do We Cure An Industrial Hangover?


As we proceed turkey and pudding-stuffed into yet another year, and we've finally nursed our sore heads back to health, there's another consumption-based ailment to consider: our industrial hangover...

6 November 2007

Biodiversity Crunch Threatens Plant Productivity


The impact of species loss on ecosystems will dramatically compromise the important benefits that humans get from nature...

30 October 2007

Organic Carbon Declines In Fertilized Soils


Adding nitrogen fertilizer is believed to benefit the soil by building organic carbon, but University of Illinois soil scientists have overturned this central tenet of the agricultural revolution...

9 October 2007

GE Corn A Threat To Waterways?


A widely planted variety of genetically engineered corn has the potential to cause significant damage to aquatic ecosystems...

12 September 2007

The Parking Lot As Environmental Vandal


Parking spaces - which in some US counties outnumber resident families by more than 10-to-1 - are warming the climate and causing heavy-metal water pollution...

9 August 2007

Study Slams Mainstream Farming Techniques


Long-established plow-based agricultural methods combined with the economic imperative to improve crop yields are rapidly depleting the Earth's soil supply, say US scientists...

31 July 2007

Woody Girth, Not Length, Makes For Healthy Streams


The width of the vegetated borders around waterways determines how protected the water is from excess nitrogen inflow...

8 June 2007

Down On The Farm? Yields, Nutrients And Soil Quality


While systemized, large-scale agriculture delivered last century's much ballyhooed agricultural revolution, history tells us that unsound farming methods can cause the collapse of civilizations. Now, it seems, Western nations may once again be staring down the barrel, as studies into today's commercial farming practices show that they are having a negative effect on crop yields, nutrient content and the environment...

5 June 2007

DIY Terra Preta Soils Double As Carbon Sink


Processing waste biomass using pyrolysis creates a byproduct that could help turn depleted soils into highly fertile terra preta while at the same time locking up excess carbon...

11 May 2007

POP Goes The Planet


While most would agree that there's nothing wrong with making global warming a popular issue, there is a risk that other clear and present environmental dangers are being eclipsed. One largely forgotten issue is the insidious problem of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that continue to wreak havoc on the Earth's ecosystems...

2 May 2007

Gloomy Prognosis For Amphibians


Widespread environmental changes coupled with evolutionary constraints may mean that many amphibious species will soon become extinct...

30 March 2007

Plummeting Shellfish Stocks Blamed On Shark Overfishing


The fragile nature of ocean ecosystems is becoming ever more apparent as scientists uncover complex new relationships between diverse marine creatures...

26 March 2007

Limited Resources The Key To Biodiversity?


Somewhat counter-intuitively, experiments have shown that a plentiful supply of water and nutrients actually restricts ecosystem biodiversity...

9 February 2007

Going Gaga Over Gaia


As scientists continue to grapple with the complexities of climate change, one thing is becoming abundantly clear: each of Earth's seemingly discrete environmental systems is crucially dependent upon another. This basic yet important observation has led scientists to reconsider the Gaia Hypothesis - a controversial idea first proposed in 1970...

2 February 2007

Survival Of The Cutest


The protection of endangered species is central to many conservation agencies, yet invariably it's the same pleasing-to-the-eye creatures that hog the limelight. Sumatran Tigers and baby Harp Seals push the right buttons with the public, but would promotional images of an endangered Antigua Ground Lizard or Wyoming Toad elicit the same response? Probably not, with new research predicting that only the most aesthetically pleasing creatures may survive humankind's continued reshaping of the Earth...

8 December 2006

Planet Earth: Love It And Leave It


Environmentalists take issue with the elephantine budgets routinely sunk into space exploration, which they believe could be better spent fixing Earth's more immediate problems. But a new book contends that both environmentalists and space agencies are really working toward the same end: the survival of the species...

4 December 2006

Of Pendulums And Predation


The study of oscillations in biological populations could lead to profound insights into the workings of complex ecological systems...

27 October 2006

Threat From Plummeting Biodiversity Qualified


A large meta-study has shown that biodiversity is intrinsically linked to the ecological "services" that nature provides to humanity, which now look set for a major upset...

13 September 2006

Prozac In Wastewater Threatens Mussels


Antidepressants aren't giving freshwater mussels much to smile about. In fact, Prozac could be threatening these mollusks with extinction...

15 May 2006

Redirect River To Save Louisiana, Says Engineer


An environmental engineer says re-routing the mouth of the Mississippi river would stop the disappearance of coastal wetlands which act as a natural barrier against hurricanes and storm surges...

12 May 2006

Botanic Mechanics Celebrate 150 Year Long Experiment


Apparently, watching grass grow isn't quite as boring as you may expect, and can, in fact, be downright fascinating. This is especially true if you happen to be one of the many ecologists eagerly anticipating the arrival of The Park Grass Experiment's 150th anniversary celebrations, which will be held at Rothamsted Research later this month. After a century and a half, The Park Grass Experiment is in fact the world's longest running ecological experiment...

30 March 2006

World's Fish Stocks Face New Danger


Agricultural run-off and pollution are lowering the levels of dissolved oxygen in seawater, inducing sex changes in embryonic fish, leading to an overabundance of males...

24 March 2006

Ozone - The Pollutant That Got Away


Scientists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies have evaluated how ozone pollution in the troposphere has contributed to warming in specific regions of the world over the past 100 years. They found that ozone in the lower levels of the atmosphere was responsible for a staggering one-third to one-half of observed warming in the Arctic region...

23 March 2006

Increasing Soil Erosion Threatens World's Food Supply


While climate change hogs the headlines, a more insidious threat that is largely ignored is steadily destroying great swathes of the world's croplands...

7 February 2006

Lost World Found In New Guinea


An expedition to the remote Foja Mountains in New Guinea has turned up dozens of previously unknown mammals, frogs, butterflies and plants...

20 January 2006

Birds Ain't Doing It, Bees Ain't Doing It, And Biodiversity Is The Victim


A global decrease in pollinators such as birds, bees and flies means that plants in biodiverse hotspots are not getting enough pollen to reproduce. While it's possible for plants to self-pollinate, this alone does not progress or strengthen the species, as, like any other living organism, a plant needs genetic variation in order for the species to survive. And it's this lack of genetic variation that could make widespread plant extinctions unavoidable...

12 January 2006

Amazon A Desert For Soil Bacteria


Most people would expect the Amazon jungle to be home to a diverse range of soil bacteria, but in fact, just the opposite is true...

9 January 2006

Treated Wood A Long Term Environmental Threat


The arsenic used to treat wooden decks, utility poles and fences will leach into the environment for decades, posing a grave threat to groundwater reserves...

25 November 2005

Satellite Provides Spectacular New Volcanic Images


Montagu Island, in the South Sandwich Islands, is home to a newly erupting volcano that satellite photos show is enlarging the island at a prodigious rate...

18 October 2005

Mountains Creating Atmospheric Hotspots


Wind gusts blowing over mountainous regions can create hotspots - of up to 1,000-degree Celsius - in the atmosphere and significantly affect regional air temperatures...

7 October 2005

Chernobyl: No People But A Thriving Ecosystem


After the meltdown, the prognosis for Chernobyl and its environs - succinctly dubbed by the Soviets as the Zone of Alienation - was grim. But surprisingly, Chernobyl's surrounding flora and fauna have flourished remarkably. Author Mary Mycio vividly describes an extraordinary - and at times unearthly - new ecosystem that is flourishing in this no-man's land, where radiation levels are too intense for people to live...

6 September 2005

Road De-Icing Threatens U.S. Aquatic Habitats


Fresh water systems across the northeastern United States are becoming saltier due to de-icing on roads, threatening previously pristine aquatic habitats...

4 August 2005

Roundup™ Super-Toxic For Frogs As Well As Tadpoles


The most popular herbicide in the world has been found to be amazingly efficient at killing frogs and tadpoles, at levels far below those found in much of the environment...

20 July 2005

Bird Poo Spreading Toxic Pollutants


Pristine ecosystems in Canada are becoming polluted with mercury and DDT thanks to seabirds that feed in polluted areas and then fly north to unload the contaminants via their guano...

29 June 2005

Mountains Formed In The Blink Of An Eye


A new 'cold crust' model suggests that mountains can be created much more quickly than previously thought, and at much cooler temperatures...

15 April 2005

More Dirt On Antimicrobial Soaps


In addition to past research that has shown how certain soaps and cleaning agents can adversely impact the environment, researchers have now found that the active agent in these products can interact with the chlorine in tap water, creating the carcinogen chloroform...

7 March 2005

Bacteria To Clean Up Chemical Weapons


Russian researchers believe a versatile bacterium called Pseudomonas putida could help mop up the toxic by-products caused by the destruction of chemical weapons...

2 March 2005

Cod Numbers Decline 96 Percent


In the pre-Civil War era, cod were the dominant fish species on the Scotian Shelf, but now their numbers are down by an astonishing 96 percent...

26 January 2005

Aussie Deserts Created By Ancient Fires


Massive burning of the landscape by ancient hunters and gatherers may have caused the failure of the Australian Monsoon resulting in the large deserts that make up the country's interior...

24 January 2005

Waterways Awash With Anti-Bacterial Chemical


New findings suggest that an antimicrobial chemical used in soaps and cleaning products has contaminated rivers and streams to a much greater extent than previously thought...

5 November 2004

Concern Over Environmental Estrogen


Even low environmental levels of the synthetic hormones used in oral contraceptives can still cause serious fertility problems in fish...

30 July 2004

Concrete Jungle A Blooming Miracle For Plants


A study has found that cities and towns create warmer conditions that cause plants to stay green longer each year...

14 July 2004

UV Light Turns Plankton Into Cloud Factories


A tiny sea creature could have a big impact on global climate change. Researchers have found that plankton can indirectly create clouds that block the Sun's rays...

23 June 2004

World's Forests Need Disasters


Without disturbances in nature, such as forest fires, icing, or volcanic activity, forests will eventually become impoverished, due to a lack of phosphorous...

12 January 2004

Salmon From Fish Farms A Tad Toxic


PCBs and other environmental toxins are present at higher levels in farm-raised salmon than in their wild counterparts...

17 April 2003

Algorithm For "Nature" Described


A new theory simplifies various aspects of ecological complexity with an elegant model that unites all of them and provides a theory for quantifying biodiversity...

11 April 2002

Prescription Drug Pollution May Harm Environment


The millions of doses of prescription drugs that Americans swallow annually do not disappear harmlessly, but instead make their way back into the environment where they may contaminate drinking water...

11 January 2002

Scientific Bias Causing Mass Extinctions


Scientific bias towards the cute or spectacular may be helping condemn a substantial proportion of the world's plants and animals to extinction...

Related:
Animal Kingdom
Biology
Evolution
Genetics
Humans
Mind/Brain
Prehistory