8,274 results
8,274 results for: Fish
- Earth
Toxic runoff from plastic mulch
By laying sheets of plastic across their fields, farmers can bring crops to market faster while reducing their vulnerability to many blights (SN: 12/13/97, p. 376). On the negative side, however, this polymer mulch creates impermeable surfaces over more than half of a planted field. That significantly increases the amount of rain and pesticides that […]
- Earth
A dietary cost of our appetite for gold
This Mothers Day, many moms will find their brood and mates proffering glittering booty: sparkling necklaces, earrings, bracelets, brooches, and rings fashioned in whole or in part of gold. There may also be gilded plates, glasses, and grandmas favorite–fragile, matched sets of hand-painted tea cups and saucers. As women admire these tokens of their loved […]
- Earth
Fire Retardant Catfish?
It may sound like a barbecue chefs dream: fish that wont catch fire and char when their fat spatters onto overly hot charcoal. But the facts are less appealing. Although many U.S. fish contain fire retardants, they wont protect your grilled fare from burning. In fact, these compounds, which go by the name of polybrominated […]
- 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 […]
- Health & Medicine
Bugged by Foreign Cuisine
One common experience that tourists encounter while traveling far from home is gut-wrenching diarrhea. In some developing countries, it’s so common that it’s picked up geographic eponyms, like Montezuma’s revenge in Mexico or Delhi belly on the Indian subcontinent. Mexican cuisine typically offers diners tabletop condiments–from spicy chili liquids to diced-veggie salsas and guacamole–to customize […]
- Ecosystems
No Way to Make Soup—Thirty-two tons of contraband shark fins seized on the high seas
Something looked suspicious. This former swordfishing vessel, out of Honolulu, was clearly heavy with cargo when discovered by U.S. law-enforcement officials 350 miles off of Acapulco, on Aug. 13. A boarding team found no fishing–just shark fins. However, under a new federal law, transporting fins collected by another fishing vessel constitutes illegal “fishing.” US Coast […]
- Ecosystems
State of U.S. Agro-ecosystems
About one-quarter of the United States’ land cover, excluding Alaska, is farmed–some 430 million to 500 million acres. A massive new project has just assessed this and other food-producing environments, such as coastal waters, fresh waters, and rangelands, to tally factors contributing to health. Released on Sept. 24, it indicates that most ecosystems are undergoing […]
- Earth
Finned Pollution Is One Cost of Our Exotic Tastes
Diners in most countries are accustomed to having an international array of foods in their pantries and eateries. It started more than a millennium ago when spice traders plied the caravan routes linking China to Istanbul. From Turkey, traders shipped their condiments throughout Europe and eventually to the New World. Northern or Chinese snakehead (Channa […]
- Health & Medicine
Home Cooking on the Wane
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Passover are among the few holidays on which home-cooked meals remain the norm. On most other days of the year, a large and growing share of U.S. diners happily leave the cooking of at least one meal to professionals. Eating in. Eating out. Home cooking used to signify meals with a healthy […]
- Health & Medicine
Acrylamide—From Spuds to Gingerbread
Just in time for the holiday season, the Bavarian Ministry of Health reports finding extremely high concentrations of acrylamide—a chemical that causes cancer in rats—in gingerbread. German chemists turned up acrylamide in a favorite holiday treat: gingerbread. Whether baked at home or fried at a restaurant, all hot-potato products cooked up substantial quantitites of acrylamide. […]
- Earth
Mercurial Effects of Fish-Rich Diets
In the spring of 2000, one of Jane M. Hightower’s patients had been concerned about hair loss, so the internist referred the woman to a specialist in her building. That dermatologist probed the woman’s medical history but could find no explanation. That is, until she suddenly recalled a radio broadcast about mercury poisoning in people […]
- Health & Medicine
Don’t Belittle this Vitamin
As vitamins go, B6 doesn’t fly high on the radar screen of most consumers. However, owing to its many benefits–which include protecting DNA–this unsung nutritional hero shouldn’t be neglected, argue a pair of scientists. Last week, they reported data showing that when people consume diets low in this vitamin, their blood has higher rates of […]
