Feature Earth

Environment: Science news of the year, 2008

Science News writers and editors looked back at the past year's stories and selected a handful as the year's most interesting and important in Environment. Follow hotlinks to the full, original stories.

By Science News

December 19, 2008 at 7:19 pm

Bisphenol A, an ingredient in many plastic consumer products, degrades over time, leaching into the materials it comes in contact with. A new study finds the chemical may increase the risk of heart attack and type 2 diabetes.

Evidence builds against chemical found in plastics
The widely used plastics ingredient bisphenol A, which can leach from food and beverage containers, takes some hits in two studies looking at humans and biologically relevant doses: In a broad survey using CDC data of American adults, high urine levels of BPA were linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and liver enzyme problems (SN: 10/11/08, p. 14). A study examining human fat tissue found that BPA suppresses a hormone that protects people from heart attacks and type 2 diabetes (SN: 9/13/08, p. 15).

While the U.S. National Toxicology Program concluded that the chemical is of concern for human development, the Food and Drug Administration decreed, in a draft assessment, that current exposure levels are safe. An FDA–appointed subcommittee then blasted the draft assessment as severely flawed and sent the FDA back to the drawing board to reassess risk.

“I do not understand why the governments of the United States and Europe put money into studying pollutants like bisphenol A and then later don’t listen to what scientists have found,” says Angel Nadal of the Spanish Biomedical Research Network in Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Disorders in Alicante.

A sapling sprouts near a mature tree in the Russian Arctic in January 2001. Larches and spruce there are overtaking formerly low-growing vegetation.

Forest invades tundra Trees are growing in Arctic soils previously characterized by tiny low-growing shrubs, a development that threatens to indirectly accelerate global warming (SN: 7/5/08, p. 26).

Ocean reflux Scientists report that water with a pH low enough to disrupt sea creatures’ shell formation burped up temporarily in spring 2007 along North America’s West Coast (SN Online: 5/22/08).

Ain’t natural An epic data review blames climate change for myriad disruptions — including dwindling snowpacks and early salmon migrations (SN Online: 5/14/08).

Peak wind speeds of some of the world’s strongest storms (2005’s Wilma shown) have, on average, increased during the past three decades, thanks to a warming trend in many of the ocean basins where such storms are spawned

Mighty get mightier Peak wind speeds of some of the world’s strongest storms (2005’s Wilma shown) have, on average, increased during the past three decades, thanks to a warming trend in many of the ocean basins where such storms are spawned (SN Online: 9/3/08).

Bogus ‘consensus’ Researchers debunk a myth cited by global warming skeptics that a cooling climate consensus existed in the 1970s (SN: 10/25/08, p. 5).

Dioxin and sperm Dioxin’s effect on adult sperm production depends on age at exposure; in men exposed before age 10, sperm were especially feeble, researchers find (SN: 2/9/08, p. 94).

Asbestos-like In terms of toxicity, certain long carbon nanotubes resemble asbestos (SN Online: 5/21/08).

Coastal areas lacking the oxygen to support most life forms (hypoxic) are associated with watersheds and populations centers that discharge a lot of nutrients. The number of these dead zones has been doubling roughly every ten years since the 1960s.

Dead waters Scientists tally more than 400 dead zones, marine areas with so little oxygen that they barely support life. Worldwide, the number of these stressed ecosystems has increased by a third since 1995 (SN Online: 8/14/08).

Male toads female he closer that male toads live to farms, the more likely the toads are to have experienced a significant and potentially sterilizing feminization, a study finds (SN: 8/2/08, p. 9).