MS-ESS3-3
Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Plastisphere
As plastic floats in the ocean, it can acquire its own colony of microbes and algae. We call this ecosystem the plastisphere.
- Climate
Volcanic rocks can quickly turn pollution into stone
A test program in Iceland injected carbon dioxide into lava rocks. More than 95 percent of the gas turned to stone within two years.
- Animals
Teens use science to worm through plastic waste
Some beetle larvae can eat plastic, which might be good for our pollution problem. But which types eat the most can vary a lot, these young scientists find.
- Animals
Catching ‘Dory’ fish can poison entire coral reef ecosystems
More than half of saltwater-aquarium fish sold in the United States may have been caught in the wild using cyanide, new data show.
- Earth
Fighting big farm pollution with a tiny plant
Fertilizer runoff can fuel the growth of toxic algae nearby lakes. A teen decided to harness a tiny plant to sop up that fertilizer.
- Chemistry
Concrete science
Teen researchers are exploring ways to strengthen this building material, use it for safety purposes and use its discarded rubble.
- Climate
Zapping clouds with lasers could alter Earth’s climate
Scientists zapped ice crystals in a lab. They were exploring whether this approach might be used to break those crystals in clouds — potentially as a way to cool Earth’s fever.
- 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.”
- 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.
- Earth
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.
- Chemistry
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.
