Earth

Environment

Did your burger come with a side of non-degrading pollutants?

Perfluorinated compounds pollute the environment and might harm human health. A new study shows that one place they often show up is the paper and cardboard used to package fast foods.

Earth

Keeping space missions from infecting Earth and other worlds

Scientists are always looking for ways to stop Earthly microbes from polluting other planets. The same goes for bringing bits of other planets back to Earth.

Oceans

Deep-sea dump: Trash is collecting on the Arctic seafloor

Trash is building up on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, including plastic bags, glass shards and fishing nets.

Environment

Cleaning up water that bees like to drink

Plant roots suck up pesticides used on soils, then release them into water that can seep from their leaves. This is a sweetened water that bees love to sip. A teen figured out how to remove most of the pesticide with bits of charcoal.

Agriculture

Teen converts water pollutant into a plant fertilizer

Too much phosphate can fuel algal growth, which can rob oxygen from the water. This can suffocate fish and other wildlife. Stefan Wan found a way to collect that pollutant, which can later be used as a farm nutrient.

Earth

Is Zealandia a continent?

Geologists are making the case for a new continent, that they would dub Zealandia. It can be found largely submerged beneath the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

Animals

Wild hamsters raised on corn eat their young alive

European hamsters raised in the lab turn into crazy cannibals when fed a diet rich in corn, new data show. The problem may trace to a shortage of a key vitamin.

Ecosystems

Underwater meadows appear to fight ocean germs

The seagrasses that sway in coastal currents are more than aquatic groundcover. They can reduce harmful bacteria that might otherwise sicken neighboring animals, new data show.

Climate

Sea ice around Antarctica shrinks to record low

Just two years after reaching a record high, the Antarctic sea ice extent has reached a new low.

Health & Medicine

Cleaner water helps male fish again look and act like guys

Water pollution can give male fish female traits — such as the ability to make eggs. And that’s not a good thing. Better water treatment may prevent that, data now show.

Oceans

Deep-sea mining could imperil rare, ghostlike octopus

A newly discovered octopus lays its eggs in a dangerous spot: where companies are looking to mine valuable metals for use in cell phones and computers.

Fossils

What killed the dinosaurs?

New evidence is emerging that a devastating combo of events — an asteroid impact and supervolcanoes — may be behind the dinosaurs’ demise.