Unprecedented levels of nitrogen could pose risks to Earth's environment

Human production of fixed nitrogen, used mostly to fertilize crops, now accounts for about half of the total fixed nitrogen added to the Earth both on land and in the oceans.

Eighteenth century nautical charts reveal coral loss

Centuries-old nautical charts, mapped by long-deceased sailors to avoid shipwrecks, have been used by modern scientists to study loss of coral reefs.

First measurements of iodine in the Arctic reveal questions about air pollution

New measurements of molecular iodine in the Arctic show that even a tiny amount of the element can deplete ozone in the lower atmosphere.

Wildfire and Invasive Species Drives Increasing Size and Cost of Public Land Restoration Efforts

An examination of long-term data for lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management finds that land treatments in the southwestern United States are increasingly large, expensive and related to fire and invasive species control.

The study, recently published in Restoration Ecology, reveals an extensive legacy of land management decisions and provides new insight on strategies to increase future treatment efficacy in an extremely water-limited region.

Lake Trout adjust their behaviour in the face of a changing climate

Canadian scientists have discovered that certain lake predators are altering their behaviour due to climate change, revealing what the future may hold for these fish and their food.

For years scientists told tales of fish such as Lake Trout adapting their feeding behaviour as temperatures change, but no empirical evidence existed. Now, a recently completed 11-year study at IISD Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA) in northwestern Ontario reveals that Lake Trout have a remarkable ability to adjust their behaviour in the face of changing water temperatures.

Studying pollution over Chesapeake Bay

It was a pretty typical day for NASA scientists studying pollution in the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia — busy, in other words.

And for good reason.  The work they were doing could help improve air-quality forecasts in a region where the air quality picture isn’t totally clear.

New way to test antibiotics could lead to better drugs

MIT and Harvard University researchers have engineered E. coli cells that can be used to study how bacteria at an infection site respond to antibiotic treatment, allowing scientists to learn more about how existing antibiotics work and potentially help them to develop new drugs.

In the new study, which appears in the Aug. 31 issue of Cell Host and Microbe, the researchers found evidence that some existing hypotheses about how bacteria respond to antibiotics are not correct.

NASA Sees Tropical Storm Katia Develop Near Mexico's East Coast

NASA’s Terra satellite passed over Tropical Storm Katia as it was developing along Mexico’s east coast.  On Sept. 5, the thirteenth tropical depression of the Eastern Pacific Ocean hurricane season formed about 80 miles (125 kph) east of Tampico, Mexico, in the western Gulf of Mexico. 

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured a visible-light image of the depression as it was organizing on Sept. 5 at 1:10 p.m. EDT (1710 UTC). The image showed that deep convection and thunderstorms were forming over the center. By 4 p.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center noted that the depression had formed.

GPM Satellite Probes Dangerous Category Five Hurricane Irma

The GPM core observatory satellite had an exceptional view of hurricane Irma's eye and found extreme rainfall within the Category 5 storm’s eyewall.

Hurricane Harvey Flooding Seen in New NASA Satellite Image

On Sept. 5, 2017, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this image of the area around Bay City, Texas, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Houston. Hurricane Harvey caused extensive inland flooding, seen as dark blue areas where the water is relatively clear, and green-grey where the water carries sediment. The image covers an area of 32 by 65 miles (52 by 105 kilometers), and is centered at 29.2 degrees north, 95.8 degrees west.