Humankind’s collective thirst is slowly desiccating landscapes worldwide, a study of groundwater finds. Water stored in aquifers underground makes up the vast majority of accessible freshwater on Earth. Its abundance…
Category: Earth
Many cosmetics contain hidden, potentially dangerous ‘forever chemicals’
A new chemical analysis has revealed an ugly truth about beauty products: Many may contain highly persistent, potentially harmful “forever chemicals” called PFAS. PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances,…
A new technique could make some plastic trash compostable at home
A pinch of polymer-munching enzymes could make biodegradable plastic packaging and forks truly compostable. With moderate heat, enzyme-laced films of the plastic disintegrated in standard compost or plain tap water…
The U.S.’s first open-air genetically modified mosquitoes have taken flight
The first genetically modified mosquitoes that will be allowed to fly free outdoors in the United States have started reaching the age for mating in the Florida Keys. In a…
Wildfires launch microbes into the air. How big of a health risk is that?
As climate change brings more wildfires to the western United States, a rare fungal infection has also been on the rise. Valley fever is up more than sixfold in Arizona…
Discarded COVID-19 PPE such as masks can be deadly to wildlife
A Magellanic penguin in Brazil ingested a face mask. A hedgehog in England got itself entangled in a glove. An octopus off the coast of France was found seeking refuge…
‘Fathom’ seeks to unravel humpback whales’ soulful songs
In an opening scene of the new film Fathom, Michelle Fournet sits at her computer in the dark, headphones on. The marine ecologist at Cornell University is listening to a…
A new book uses stories from tsunami survivors to decode deadly waves
TsunamiJames Goff and Walter DudleyOxford Univ., $34.95 On March 27, 1964, Ted Pederson was helping load oil onto a tanker in Seward, Alaska, when a magnitude 9.2 quake struck. Within…
A common antibiotic slows a mysterious coral disease
Slathering corals in a common antibiotic seems to temporarily soothe a mysterious tissue-eating disease, new research suggests. Just off Florida, a type of coral infected with stony coral tissue loss…
Something mysteriously wiped out about 90 percent of sharks 19 million years ago
About 19 million years ago, something terrible happened to sharks. Fossils gleaned from sediments in the Pacific Ocean reveal a previously unknown and dramatic shark extinction event, during which populations…
