Thursday, 9 February, 2012

To understand and protect the home planet: it’s no longer a key NASA mission. What will we lose as NASA turns its eyes toward the moon and Mars?

Global warming is changing the planet: Antarctica is melting, sea level is rising, oceans are turning sour. Killing Amazon forests spreads malaria, reduces rainfall. How sick is our Earth?

As the administration allows more snowmobiles to buzz through Yellowstone, scientists cry foul. Are the parks more than playgrounds?m Scientists call for more money for basic research, but the Bush administration favors recreation.

Feeling burned? Farmed salmon have higher levels of a brominated flame retardant than wild salmon.

How should we deal with mercury air pollution in air, fish and water? Why do the studies of mercury consumption not agree? What to do when the studies conflict…

Salvage logging of forests after natural disturbances is a bad idea, ecologists warn. Evidence from a forest whacked by a 1938 hurricane show how salvage logging changes the landscape.

Monkeypox, AIDS, SARS: Are more diseases jumping from animals to people, or is it just our imagination?

Rock climbing may be harming snail populations along the Niagara Escarpment.

How does dam removal restore rivers to health, and how long does it take?

Brown future: New study finds large increase in number of threatened plants, calculates that 22 to 62 percent of plant species are threatened.