Earth

Earth

Suspended Drugs: Antibiotics fed to animals drift in air

Borne on dust floating in and around farm buildings, antibiotics given to animals may later be inhaled by people—with possibly detrimental health effects.

Earth

Girls may face risks from phthalates

The high incidence of premature breast development in Puerto Rican girls has been linked with phthalates, a family of ubiquitous pollutants found in plastics, lubricants, and solvents.

Earth

Slow Turnover: Warming trend affects African ecosystem

Over the past 90 years, rising water temperatures in Lake Tanganyika have led to dramatic losses of productivity among the microorganisms that form the base of the lake's food chain.

Earth

Germs Begone: New technology cleans dangerous water

For a penny per liter, people in the developing world should be able to remove most pathogens and toxic pollutants from their home drinking water.

Earth

Lead delays puberty

Even low concentrations of lead in a girl's body may delay her reproductive maturation.

Earth

Meteorite Crater

The Barringer Crater in Arizona is one of the more famous geological sites on Earth. This Web site recounts the history and science of the crater’s formation 50,000 years ago and provides information about its discovery, its purchase by D.M. Barringer, and its current status. Go to: http://www.barringercrater.com/

Earth

Spawning Trouble: Synthetic estrogen hampers trout fertility

Exposure to a synthetic estrogen called ethynylestradiol, which is commonly found in birth control pills and enters the waterways through sewage effluent, reduces male trout’s fertility by half.

Earth

Treaty is Imminent for Genetically Engineered Foods

The Republic of Palau–a 9-year-old confederation of some 300 Pacific islands–has fewer than 20,000 inhabitants and a land area only about 2.5 times the size of Washington, D.C. Yet this tiny nation southeast of the Philippines made big history last week when its government became the 50th to ratify the United Nations’ Cartagena Protocol, a […]

Earth

New Concerns about Phthalates

Boys may face an eventual reproductive risk from exposure to some of the ingredients that go into many common plastics, cosmetics, and medical supplies.

Earth

Study gives new answer for muddy mystery

Geologists provide evidence that quartz silt in ancient seabeds doesn't come from eroded land rocks, but rather from the dissolved skeletons of tiny primitive creatures, possibly altering the fossil record and changing models of prehistoric climate and ocean geography.

Earth

Rocks for Kids

Can’t tell pyrite from magnetite? Looking for an entertaining, colorful introduction to rocks and minerals? The Mineralogical Society of America has created a Web site, aimed at kids, that provides information about minerals and their classification, properties, and uses. It includes a selection of games with a mineral theme. Go to: http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/K12/K_12.html

Earth

More fish survive if plankton bloom early

Data collected by Earth-orbiting satellites and oceangoing trawlers suggest that juvenile haddock of Nova Scotia are more abundant in years when plankton populations peak earlier than normal.