Earth and Human Activity

Computing

‘Couch potatoes’ tend to be TV-energy hogs

Many government programs urge people to save electricity by using more efficient TVs. Here’s why these programs should target “couch potatoes.”

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.

Health & Medicine

Heat sickness

Scientists worry that increasing temperatures could combine with air pollution to up rates of illness and premature death — perhaps dramatically.

Earth

How ancient African fish feed today’s Amazon

Many of the world’s lushest tropical forests would starve if winds didn’t bring them nutrient-rich dust from across an ocean.

Oceans

Polar bears swim for days as sea ice retreats

Melting sea ice is forcing polar bears to swim long distances — up to nine days in one case. Such long treks may be more than the bears can handle.

Earth

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.

Animals

Pollen can become bee ‘junk food’ as CO₂ rises

Increasing levels of the greenhouse gas are changing diminishing the food value of pollen, bees’ only source of protein.

Chemistry

Particles in air help fatten clouds’ water droplets

Making their own clouds has shown scientists how the fattest water droplets form. Understanding this could lead to better forecasts of climate change.

Earth

Quake risk in some central states rivals California’s

Risks of tremors in some central U.S. states are as high as those in quake-prone California. The reason: waste fluids from oil and gas drilling.

Environment

Breathing very dirty air may boost obesity risk

Breathing dirty Beijing air made rats heavier and less healthy than rats breathing clean air. Scientists now worry such polluted air may do the same thing to people.

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.

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.