12/12/2006

Mars rocks could provide vital clue to how life began on Earth

Studying rocks on Mars, which are among the oldest rocks in the Solar System, could provide scientists with key evidence of how the earliest forms of life arose on Earth, say researchers writing in this month’s edition ...

Drop in acid rain altering Appalachian stream water

Appalachian hardwood forests may be getting a respite from acid rain but data from a long-term ecological study of stream chemistry suggests that the drop in acid rain may be changing biological activity in the ecosystem ...

'Asian haze' impacts on Australian rainfall

Elevated particle emissions resulting from increased economic activity in Asia may have increased Australia’s tropical rainfall, according to new research on the way pollution influences our climate.

Frankincense trees overexploited for Christmas scent

Current rates of tapping frankincense - which according to the Bible was given to the baby Jesus by the three wise men at Christmas and which will feature in thousands of Nativity plays in coming days - are endangering the ...

A window on the environment from Tahoe to the ocean

If there is a big idea in environmental science, it is interconnectedness. Air, water, land and the living things on or in them are connected in ways obvious and subtle. But actually seeing and understanding all those connections ...

Hairpins for switches

How does an organism know when it must produce a protein and in what amount? Clever control mechanisms are responsible for the regulation of protein biosynthesis. One such type of mechanism, discovered only a few years ago, ...