Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Climate
Amazon may become greenhouse gas emitter
South America’s massive rain forest may soon release more carbon into the atmosphere than it absorbs.
- Life
Boxwood blight invades North America
The devastating fungus has already stripped shrubbery down to sticks in Europe and New Zealand.
- Earth
Carbonation brings diamonds to surface
Chemical reactions deep inside the Earth fuel magma’s gem-laden upward journey.
- Life
Rising carbon dioxide confuses brain signaling in fish
Nerve cells respond to acidifying waters.
- Climate
Soil’s Hidden Secrets
Shocking discoveries from the underground may shake up climate science.
- Earth
Small efforts to reduce methane, soot could have big effect
Simple measures could slow global warming and reduce premature deaths.
- Humans
Bush meat can be a viral feast
Monkeys and apes are considered edible game in many parts of Africa. As Africans have emigrated to other parts of the world, some have retained their love of this so-called bushmeat. A new study now finds that even when smoked, meat from nonhuman primates — from chimps to monkeys — can host potentially dangerous viruses. Smuggled imports confiscated at U.S. airports provided the samples tested in this investigation.
- Life
Crabs hither, shrimp thither
Biologists document surprising differences among deep-sea animals at hydrothermal vent fields.
- Earth
Recirculation aided Gulf plume’s degradation
Two new studies help explain fate of pollutants released in the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history.
- Humans
Insurance payouts point to climate change
Natural disasters in 2011 exerted the costliest toll in history — a whopping $380 billion worth of losses from earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis and more. Only a third of those costs were covered by insurance. And the tally ignores completely any expenses associated with sickness or injuries triggered by the disasters. And except for quake-related events, climate change appears to have played a role in the growing cost of disasters, insurers said.
- Life
Sun-oil mix deadly for young herring
Fish embryos proved surprisingly vulnerable to a 2007 spill in San Francisco Bay.
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