MS-ESS3-3

Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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.

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  5. Microbes

    Powered by poop and pee?

    Scientists are developing methods to not only remove human waste from wastewater, but also to harness the energy hidden within it.

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  6. Chemistry

    Olive oil untangles plastic

    Vegetable oils can make plastic fibers stronger. And the process is safer and better for the environment than other detanglers.

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  7. Animals

    Using dolphins to find unknown ocean pollutants

    Long-lasting pollutants may threaten marine mammals and human health. To find those pollutants, scientists are sampling blubber, then running the fatty material through new types of tests.

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  8. 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.

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  9. Animals

    Profile: A human touch for animals

    Temple Grandin uses her own autism to understand how animals think. The animal scientist is famous for fostering the humane treatment of livestock.

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  10. Environment

    Wildlife forensics turns to eDNA

    Environmental DNA, or eDNA, tells biologists what species have been around — even when they’re out of sight or have temporarily moved on.

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  11. Environment

    Table salt and shellfish can contain plastic

    Bits of plastic have turned up in sea salts purchased in Chinese supermarkets. The finding suggests all sea salts may be similarly tainted. Shellfish too.

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  12. Environment

    Plastic trash travels up to Arctic waters

    Bags, fishing rope and other tiny bits of plastic are now polluting Arctic waters, posing threats to area wildlife.

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