All Stories by Beth Mole
- Environment
Mystery toxins in tainted New Zealand honey nabbed
Sweet and stealthy toxins have been caught sticky-handed, potentially solving a decades-long mystery of tainted honey in New Zealand.
- Environment
Rising dolphin deaths linked to Deepwater Horizon spill
Lung lesions and other injuries link an extensive die-off of dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
- Climate
Tranquil ecosystems may explain wild swings in carbon dioxide stashing
Semiarid ecosystems, such as grasslands and shrublands, are behind the large variation in the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide sucked in by land each year.
- Environment
E-cigarette flavorings may harm lungs
Certain e-cigarette flavors, such as banana pudding, may damage lung tissue
- Oceans
Mysterious form of phosphorus explained
Mysterious form of phosphorus may be used as shadow currency by marine microbes, potentially upending scientists’ understanding of nutrient exchanges.
- Chemistry
Fingerprints give away more than identity
Scientists can now detect and measure the amount of illegal drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, on a lone fingerprint.
- Microbes
Pig farm workers at greater risk for drug-resistant staph
Pig farm workers are six times as likely to carry multidrug-resistant staph than workers who have no contact with pigs.
- Chemistry
Bacteria staining method has long been misexplained
New research upends what scientists know about a classic lab technique, called gram staining, used for more than a century to characterized and classify bacteria.
- Chemistry
Sugar-cleaving molecule raises hope for universal blood
An engineered enzyme can quickly slice and dice some A and B markers from blood cells, bringing researchers closer to creating universal blood.
- Animals
Beetle’s toxic, explosive vapor explained
From a two-chambered gland in their rears, bombardier beetles unleash a toxic, blazing hot spray to defend themselves.
- Animals
Climate change revs up extinction risks
One in six species on the planet may face extinction if the global temperatures continue to rise.
- Climate
Warming’s role in extreme weather quantified
Scientists calculate how much to blame human-driven climate change for extreme high temperatures and heavy rainfall.
