Earth

  1. Agriculture

    Gene Makes Tomatoes Tolerate Salt

    The world's first genetically engineered salt-tolerant tomato plant may help farmers utilize spoiled lands.

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  2. Earth

    Climate accord reached

    Negotiators, without U.S. representatives' input, resolved controversies in Bonn that were blocking an international treaty to limit greenhouse gases.

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  3. Earth

    Atlantic coast may be in for a pounding

    The above-average number and strength of hurricanes in the North Atlantic during the past 6 years may signal the beginning of a threatening weather trend for the United States, the Caribbean, and Central America.

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  4. Earth

    Power Harvests

    Farmers are finding that commercial wind power is the best new commodity to come along in years, one that can offer substantial year-round income.

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  5. Earth

    New type of hydrothermal vent looms large

    The discovery of a new type of hydrothermal vent system on an undersea mountain in the Atlantic Ocean suggests that submarine hydrothermal activity may be much more widespread than previously thought.

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  6. Earth

    The Silence of the Bams

    If a nuclear explosion were set off in a cavity of the right size and shape, even a moderate-sized nuclear bomb might appear at long distances to be no bigger than a routine explosion used in mining.

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  7. Earth

    Atlanta leaves big chemical footprint

    A new analysis of water quality downstream of Atlanta shows that some pollutants from the city are still detectable in the river more than 500 kilometers away.

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  8. Earth

    Amazon forest could disappear, soon

    A new model that includes a forest's effect on regional climate shows that the Amazon rainforest could disappear in the next three decades, much more rapidly than previously expected.

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  9. Earth

    Is Nessie merely a bad case of the shakes?

    An Italian scientist makes the controversial suggestion that the original source of the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, as well as blame for many of the modern encounters with the supposed beast, may be seismic activity beneath the lake.

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  10. Earth

    Landfills Make Mercury More Toxic

    Landfill disposal of mercury-containing products can chemically transform the pollutant not only to make it more potent but also to foster its release into air.

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  11. Earth

    A foamy threat to ozone

    Shredding the foam insulation in discarded refrigerators can release significant quantities of chlorofluorocarbons, which pose a threat to Earth's protective ozone layer.

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  12. Earth

    Blood points to pollution’s heart risks

    As airborne concentrations of fine dust particles climb, so do three blood factors that increase an individual's heart attack risk.

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