Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
EU moves against flame retardants
The European Union has provisionally voted to ban the use and importation of nearly all members of a family of flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers.
- Earth
Where’s the smoke from the N.Y. fires?
Analyses of smoke from the destroyed World Trade Center towers indicated little risk that the fires would cause significant health effects for cleanup crews and city residents.
- Earth
Dust, the Thermostat
Analyses suggest that dust has profound, complex, and far-reaching effects on the planet's climate.
- Earth
Quantum physics explains core anomaly
Scientists have used the principles of quantum physics to answer the long-standing puzzle of why seismic waves travel at different speeds in different directions across Earth's inner core.
- Earth
Himalayas may be due for big temblors
Scientists say that a narrow region that rims the southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau could be the spawning grounds for large earthquakes that could threaten millions in southern Asia in the decades to come.
- Earth
Dusty workplace may cause change of heart
Occupational exposure to fine dust can trigger adverse changes in the hearts of even strong, healthy workers.
- Earth
Bt Corn Risk to Monarchs Is ‘Negligible’
A much-anticipated report states that the most commonly planted forms of genetically engineered Bt corn pose only a "negligible" risk to monarch butterfly populations.
- Earth
Scientists spy sixth undersea-vent ecology
A new group of hydrothermal vents found in the Indian Ocean are populated by communities of organisms that differ significantly from other such groups of vent systems.
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- Earth
Antarctic sediments muddy climate debate
Ocean-floor sediments drilled from Antarctic regions recently covered by ice shelves suggest that those shelves were much younger than scientists had previously thought.
- Earth
Aircraft spies on health of coral reefs
Marine ecologists report the development of a new remote-sensing system that can assess the health of coral reefs from planes.
- Earth
L.A. moves, but not in the way expected
Researchers monitoring small ground motions along faults in Southern California ended up detecting an altogether different phenomenon: the rise and fall of the ground as local governments pump billions of gallons of water into and out of the region's aquifers.
