A large fraction of the carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere by human activity enters the sea, causing ocean acidification. We show that otoliths (aragonite ear bones) of young fish grown under high CO2 (low pH) conditions are larger than normal, contrary to expectation.
A novel influenza A (H1N1) virus has spread rapidly across the globe. Judging its pandemic potential is difficult with limited data, but nevertheless essential to inform appropriate health responses. By analyzing the outbreak in Mexico, early data on international spread, and viral genetic diversity, we make an early assessment of transmissibility and severity.
Nutrient cycles link agricultural systems to their societies and surroundings; inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus in particular are essential for high crop yields, but downstream and downwind losses of these same nutrients diminish environmental quality and human well-being.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is on the cusp of gaining power for the first time to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products. Last week, the U.S. Senate followed the lead of the House of Representatives, voting 79
When World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan declared last week that for the first time in more than 40 years the world is facing an influenza pandemic, she simply stated what everybody already knew.
Climate warming has advanced the biological spring and delayed the arrival of biological winter. These changes in the annual cycle of plants and the lengthening of the green-cover season have many consequences for ecological processes, agriculture, forestry, human health, and the global economy.
In July 1994, 500,000 to 800,000 Rwandans crossed the border into the North Kivu region of Zaire (now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC). During the first month after the influx, almost 50,000 refugees died; cholera was a major contributor.
Theory has suggested that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may be inherently unstable. Recent observations lend weight to this hypothesis. This article reassess the potential contribution to eustatic and regional sea level from a rapid collapse of the ice sheet and find that previous assessments have substantially overestimated its likely primary contribution.
Volume changes in the Antarctic Ice Sheet are poorly understood, despite the importance of the ice sheet to sea-level and climate variability. Over both millennial and shorter time scales, net water influx to the ice sheet (mainly snow accumulation) nearly balances water loss through ice calving and basal ice shelf melting at the ice sheet margins.
