Earth

Earth

Desert Life

What is a desert? How many deserts are in North America? This extensive Web site offers information about the desert environment and the unique characteristics that define the beautiful desert landscapes of the U.S. Southwest. It includes images, stories, movie and audio clips, and virtual-reality tours on many desert-related topics, from plants and animals to […]

Earth

Ancient whalers altered arctic lakes

Analyses of sediment and water samples taken from an arctic lake indicate that an ancient whaling community left a mark on the lake’s ecosystem that persists today, even though the settlement was abandoned more than 400 years ago.

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Ice-dammed lakes had cooling effect

New computer simulations suggest that massive lakes in northern Russia—formed when an ice sheet blocked the northward flow of rivers about 90,000 years ago—significantly cooled the region's climate in summer months.

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Danger on Deck?

The Environmental Protection Agency no longer allows residential installation of pressure-treated lumber and recommends the application of sealant to prevent leaching of carcinogens out of existing lumber structures.

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Warming climate may slam many species

Expected increases in global temperature could eradicate from a sixth to a half of the plant and animal species across large areas of the globe, a new analysis suggests.

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Farmed salmon bring PCBs to the table

High concentrations of chlorinated organic contaminants in farm-raised Atlantic salmon may warrant limiting consumption of the otherwise-healthful fish to no more than once per month.

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Air held oxygen early on

Chemical analyses of South African sediments suggest that oxygen was present in small quantities about 2.32 billion years ago, which is at least 100 million years earlier than previously thought.

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Scooting on a Wet Bottom: Some undersea landslides ride a nearly frictionless slick of water

New computer simulations suggest that hydroplaning may be responsible for the unexpectedly large distances traversed by some undersea avalanches.

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Two microbes team up to munch methane

Aggregates of two different microorganisms in methane-bearing ocean sediments collected off the Oregon coast appear to collaborate to consume methane despite a lack of oxygen.

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Even Nunavut gets plenty of dioxin

Within a few weeks, some of the dioxin generated by industrial activities in the United States and Mexico falls out in the high Arctic.

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Bogged Down: Ancient peat may be missing methane source

Massive peat bogs in Russia may have been a major source of atmospheric methane just after the end of the last ice age.

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This pollutant fights lupus

A hormone-mimicking pollutant that leaches out of some plastics appears to fight lupus.