Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Seafloor chronicles
Survey of ocean floor reveals long history, from a geological fault to the wreckage of the Lusitania.
- Agriculture
Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa
by Robert Paarlberg, Harvard Univ. Press, 2008, 235 p., $24.95.
- Astronomy
Science Future for August 2, 2008
August 16–24 Australia celebrates National Science Week. Visit www.scienceweek.info.au September 18 and 19 University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Holtz Center presents “Climate Change is Global.” Visit www.sts.wisc.edu October 8 Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch as part of the final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Visit www.nasa.gov/missions
- Ecosystems
Tracing Tahitian vanilla
The discovery of Tahitian vanilla’s heritage could set off a custody battle between nations.
- Agriculture
Dirt Is Not Soil
Probing the distinction in what you call the stuff that mud is made of.
- Climate
Hydrogen economy sustainable in 15 years
Hydrogen fuel cells can eventually replace the combustion engine, but meanwhile a wider range of technologies will be needed to reduce carbon emissions.
-
- Oceans
Death by magma
Widespread extinctions in the world’s oceans millions of years ago may have been triggered by massive underwater volcanic eruptions that created much of the Caribbean seafloor.
- Chemistry
The Goop in Our Air
Emerging data indicate that tiny and toxic particles polluting urban air chemically morph from hour by hour, depending on what other pollutants these particles encounter during journeys that can run hundreds of miles.
- Climate
Another climate ailment
Global warming may turn out to be more than just a pain in the neck: Rising average temperatures could trigger an increased prevalence of kidney stones.
- Chemistry
CO2: Only One Flavor
Federal climate policymakers should have a grounding in basic chemistry.
- Health & Medicine
One Downside to Sushi
Uncooked fish can host detectable concentrations of potentially toxic chemicals — pollutants that cooking can make disappear,
