Earth

  1. Earth

    Fracking waste and quakes

    Underground storage of liquid waste from these mining operations can make an area more vulnerable to tremors.

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  2. Animals

    Animals under Antarctic ice?

    Data suggest a web of lake organisms might thrive deep under ice; scientists struggle to make sense of the new report.

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  3. Environment

    Home, plastic home

    Some ocean life is moving into floating piles of plastic trash.

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  4. Agriculture

    The cabbage’s clock

    A newly harvested plant, fruit or vegetable does not turn off — like a switch — and die, scientists report. Instead, an internal “clock” inside the fresh-picked plant continues to tick away. It responds to light and darkness, just as when it had been rooted in the soil.

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  5. Climate

    Tornado caught storm chasers

    On May 31, 55-year-old Tim Samaras died chasing tornadoes.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Wanted: ‘Smart’ cleaners

    Active surfaces will — on their own — help remove everything from insects and germs to poisons.

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  7. Climate

    Major twister hits Oklahoma

    Its speed, which largely determines the damage it causes, is still unknown.

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  8. Climate

    Explainer: Why a tornado forms

    Tornadoes start with a thunderstorm. But they also require other ingredients, such as instability.

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  9. Environment

    Pee is for power

    The water in urine can be a source of hydrogen for electrical generators.

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  10. Animals

    Motion in the ocean

    Scientists figure out why pulsing corals pulse.

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  11. Environment

    Fungi as carbon keepers

    A common type of fungus stores most of a forest floor’s carbon underground.

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  12. Chemistry

    A plant enemy’s enemy

    Plants use chemicals to recruit help in fighting off pests.

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