Environment

Environment

Uh oh! Baby fish prefer plastic to real food

Given a choice, baby fish will eat plastic microbeads instead of real food. That plastic stunts their growth and makes them easier prey for predators.

Environment

Common water pollutants hurt freshwater organisms

The germ killers we use and the drugs we take don’t just disappear. They can end up in the environment. There they can harm aquatic organisms, three teens showed.

Microbes

This microbe thinks plastic is dinner

The bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis chows down on one type of polluting plastics. That means it could become helpful in cleaning up environmental waste.

Microbes

Microbes mine treasure from waste

Like miniature factories, bioreactors house microbes recruited to chew through wastes to clean dirty water, make chemicals or generate electricity.

Environment

Not so sweet: Fake sugar found at sea

Sucralose — sold in stores as Splenda — has begun turning up in seawater. This raises concern about the fake sweetener’s impacts on the environment.

Tech

Eggshells help hatch a new idea for packaging

Why just crack an egg? Make the shell into itty bitty bits and use them to build a more biodegradable plastic. New research shows how.

Environment

Enormous natural-gas leak polluted L.A. air

A massive methane release from a single leaky underground well spewed as much of the greenhouse gas into the air as a mid-sized European country does in an entire year.

Environment

Gulf oil spills could destroy shipwrecks faster

In the Gulf of Mexico, leftover crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill may be speeding the corrosion of old shipwrecks.

Animals

What a drag! Fishing gear’s effects on whales

Many whales become entangled in the gear that fishing boats use to catch fish and shellfish. Such debris can have dire impacts on the big mammals.

Oceans

Arctic ice travels fast, carrying pollution

Climate change is melting old sea ice in the Arctic. Now, younger, thinner ice is migrating far and fast, taking pollutants with it.

Earth

Rocks hold clues to ancient die-offs

Rocks that formed during ancient mass-extinction show that the oceans back then had become very warm. That was the last time Earth spewed carbon dioxide into its atmosphere at a rate similar to what is happening today.

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.