About seven years ago, Kristin and Josh Mohagen were honeymooning in Napa Valley in California, when they smelled something surprising in their glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon: green pepper. A vintner…
Category: Earth
50 years ago, chemical pollutants were linked to odd animal behavior
Sea life’s chemical senses Science News, September 18, 1971 For fish and other underwater life, a sensitivity to chemicals plays the same role as the sense of smell does for…
Windbreaks, surprisingly, could help wind farms boost power output
Windbreaks may sound like a counterintuitive idea for boosting the performance of a wind turbine. But physicists report that low walls that block wind could actually help wind farms produce…
Why planting tons of trees isn’t enough to solve climate change
Trees are symbols of hope, life and transformation. They’re also increasingly touted as a straightforward, relatively inexpensive, ready-for-prime-time solution to climate change. When it comes to removing human-caused emissions of…
A tweaked yeast can make ethanol from cornstalks and a harvest’s other leftovers
When corn farmers harvest their crop, they often leave the stalks, leaves and spent cobs to rot in the fields. Now, engineers have fashioned a new strain of yeast that…
Focusing on Asian giant hornets distorts the view of invasive species
Fingers crossed for finding nothing: July marks the main trapping season to check for Asian giant hornets still infesting Washington state. The first of these invasive hornets found in North…
Corals may store a surprising amount of microplastics in their skeletons
A surprising amount of plastic pollution in the ocean may wind up in a previously overlooked spot: the skeletons of living corals. Up to about 20,000 metric tons of tiny…
Albatrosses divorce more often when ocean waters warm
When it comes to fidelity, birds fit the bill: Over 90 percent of all bird species are monogamous and — mostly — stay faithful, perhaps none more famously than the…
How intricate Venus’s-flower-baskets manipulate the flow of seawater
A Venus’s-flower-basket isn’t all show. This stunning deep-sea sponge can also alter the flow of seawater in surprising ways. A lacy, barrel-shaped chamber forms the sponge’s glassy skeleton. Flow simulations…
Wildfire smoke may ramp up toxic ozone production in cities
Wildfire smoke and urban air pollution bring out the worst in each other. As wildfires rage, they transform their burned fuel into a complex chemical cocktail of smoke. Many of…
