Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Farm Harm: Ag chemicals may cause prostate cancer
On-the-job exposure to certain agricultural chemicals may be responsible for farmers' high rates of prostate cancer.
- Earth
The Fires Below
Underground coal fires help shape the landscape on many scales and in many ways, some transient and some long-lasting.
- Earth
Sensing a vibe
A sprawling network of seismometers that covers the Los Angeles area could be adapted to provide warning of damaging ground motions from earthquakes in the seconds before those seismic vibes arrive.
- Earth
Harbor waves yield secrets to analysis
New findings by ocean scientists may help port officials in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, predict potentially destructive waves in the city's harbor.
- Earth
Seismic waves resolve continental debate
New analyses of seismic waves that have traveled deep within Earth may answer a decades-old question about the thickness of the planet's continents.
- Earth
Feel the Heat: Rain forests may slow their growth in warmer world
During a long-term research project in a Central American rain forest, mature trees grew more slowly in warm years than they did in cooler ones.
- Earth
Prenatal nicotine: A role in SIDS?
New data suggest why exposure to nicotine in the womb can put an infant at greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
- Earth
Traces of lead cause outsize harm
Minute amounts of lead in blood are worse for children than had been realized.
- Earth
Eye of the Tiger
Recent research has upended a 130-year-old, previously unchallenged theory about how the semiprecious stone called tiger's-eye is formed.
- Earth
Mapping watersheds invites comparisons
Computerized maps of environmental features for 154 of the largest river watersheds will soon be available to the public, free of charge.
- Earth
Wrong Number: Plastic ingredient spurs chromosomal defects
The primary chemical in some plastics causes female mice to produce eggs with abnormal numbers of chromosomes.
- Earth
Ssshhh! South Pole has a new seismic station
Seismometers recently installed near the South Pole reveal that the area is the quietest spot on the planet for eavesdropping on earthquakes.
