Earth
- Agriculture
Building better, safer soils
Engineering safer soils for urban growers can reduce the risk of lead exposure and let low-income families enjoy more fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Science & Society
The most important stories of 2015
From Pluto to gene editing, the year saw a number of notable research discoveries, advances and insights.
- Environment
Paris meeting yields climate agreement
It provides outlines and incentives for nations to curb fossil-fuel use. The goal is to limit global warming to no more than 2° Celsius (3.4 °Fahrenheit) above temperatures typical in the 1750s or earlier.
- Agriculture
New gene resists our last-ditch drug
Antibiotic resistance continues to grow. Now, scientists have found a tiny loop of DNA that resists a drug doctors use as a last line of defense.
- Ecosystems
As big animals poop out
Whales move nutrients from deep ocean to surface waters. From there, nutrients move to land and fertilize continents. But the system is in trouble.
- Climate
Carbon dioxide has an unexpected effect in Antarctica
Antarctica’s frigid surface combined with excess carbon dioxide to create cooling above the remote continent, a new study finds.
- Environment
Water: Getting the salt out
A new water-cleansing technology passes electricity through a flow of salty water. This will generate a zone of fresh water that can then be collected.
- Plants
Banana threat: Attack of the clones
Researchers find that disease-causing fungi — all clones of one another — will continue to infect banana plants unless new steps are taken to stop their spread.
- Tech
Engineers consider liquid salt to generate power
A new type of power plant, a molten salt reactor, might provide electricity in a cleaner and safer way than current nuclear technology.
- Oceans
Scientists identify plankton from space
Plankton are often too tiny for our eyes to see. But when huge numbers bloom at once, they now can be ID’d from space, a new study shows.
- Climate
Concerns about Earth’s fever
Burning fossil fuels is causing the planet to heat up, causing weather patterns to change, sea levels to rise and diseases to spread.
- Climate
Explainer: How scientists know Earth is warming
Scientists can calculate global temperatures, both present and past. Their findings show that the planet is rapidly heating up.
