Environment
- Environment
A coast-to-coast picture of America’s cacophony of sounds
The National Park Service mapped noise across the United States.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
E-cigarettes may be gateway to addiction for teens
Teenagers are using e-cigarettes more than any other tobacco product and for many, it’s the first time they’ve tried a tobacco product at all.
- Health & Medicine
Stoplights are hot spots for airborne pollution
Drivers get a big chunk of their exposure to pollutants from short stops at traffic intersections.
- Oceans
Millions of tons of plastic end up in oceans each year
A new estimate quantifies how much plastic makes its way into the world’s oceans.
By Beth Mole - Health & Medicine
Fallout from nuclear bomb testing presaged today’s radioactive tracers
Scientists in 1965 measured buildup of radioactive carbon from nuclear bomb testing in people.
- Environment
Humans’ environmental rap sheet gets longer
Ice cores reveal human-caused air pollution 240 years before the Industrial Revolution.
By Beth Mole - Environment
Funding canceled for clean coal plant
The Department of Energy has scrapped funding for FutureGen, a project to use new technology to sequester carbon dioxide emissions from a coal power plant.
By Beth Mole - Environment
Funding canceled for clean coal plant
The Department of Energy has scrapped funding for FutureGen, a project to use new technology to sequester carbon dioxide emissions from a coal power plant.
By Beth Mole - Health & Medicine
E-cigarettes lower immunity to flu and other germs
Electronic cigarettes produce substantial amounts of lung inflammation, a new mouse study finds. They may also reduce the ability to fight off infections from strep and flu germs.
By Janet Raloff - Environment
Tuna mercury rising
From 1998 to 2008, mercury levels in Hawaiian Yellowfin tuna have increased by 3.8 percent per year, researchers suggest.
By Beth Mole - Agriculture
Superbugs take flight from cattle farms
Winds can carry antibiotics and drug-resistant bacteria from cattle farms to downwind communities.
By Beth Mole - Environment
Atrazine’s path to cancer possibly clarified
Scientists have identified a cellular button that the controversial herbicide atrazine presses to promote tumor development.
By Beth Mole