Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Erosion accelerates along Alaskan coast
Alaska's northern coast is falling into the sea at an accelerating rate.
- Earth
Birth of an Island: Megaflood severed Europe from Britain
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the spillover from an immense glacial lake carved a chasm that in a matter of weeks separated what is now Britain from continental Europe.
- Earth
E-Waste Hazards: Chinese gear recyclers absorb toxic chemicals
People who live in an area of China where electronic devices are dismantled and recycled, as well as villagers 50 kilometers away, have high concentrations of flame retardants in their blood.
- Earth
As the last ice age waned, a great lake was born
Lake Agassiz, a huge and now vanished freshwater lake, formed almost 14,000 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age.
- Earth
Polymer Breakdown: Reaction offers possible way to recycle nylon
A new chemical process offers hope that the thousands of tons of nylon thrown away every year could one day be recycled.
- Earth
Icebergs can be biological hot spots
Icebergs carry nutrients from the land and shed them into the sea, nourishing life in the frigid waters near Antarctica.
- Earth
Double-acting bacteria immobilize toxic nanoparticles
Bacteria lurking in the bowels of an abandoned Wisconsin mine might help remove toxic metals from polluted water.
- Earth
A Gemstone’s Wild Ride
Diamonds may be carried to the surface in explosions of gas and rock fizzing up from deep within Earth's mantle.
- Earth
Tree rings tell tale of megadroughts
Tree rings in ancient timber show that the Colorado Plateau experienced a 60-year drought in the 12th century.
- Earth
Storm Center
Scientists aboard planes that flew into the cores of Katrina and other hurricanes in 2005 collected unprecedented data on the structure and development of the massive storms.
- Earth
Trouble for forests of the northern U.S. Rockies?
Climate change over the coming decades may cause forests in northern portions of the U.S. Rockies to stop absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and instead become net emitters of the gas.
- Earth
Darker days during Arctic summer
Satellite observations indicate that Arctic regions reflected less sunlight into space in the summer of 2006 than in other recent years, a change that may exacerbate the warming of Earth's climate.
