Our leftover medicines are spawning drug-resistant “bacterial monsters” that thrive inside sharks, scientists say.
The finding suggests antibiotics such as penicillin may be leaching into the environment and spurring drug-resistant bacteria to evolve and multiply in the oceans.
Climate change, coastal development and overfishing have effectively wiped out nearly a fifth of the world’s coral reefs, and by the end of this century they “are unlikely to look much like the reefs that we are familiar with today,” said Peter Mumby, a marine biologist at the University of Queensland in Australia, who envisions smaller and weaker reefs that harbor fewer fish.
“But there will still be reefs and they will still be very important,” he said. “And so what we really have to do is take all the steps we can locally to
Check out seven ways scientists and conservationists are pushing to preserve reefs for future generations.
A giant woolly rat found in Papua New Guinea is just one of hundreds of species previously unknown to science that were brought to light in 2009. These discoveries are just one of ten things the environment gained in 2009.
Demand for the mercury compound vermilion was strong enough to support a large-scale mercury mining industry in the Andes as far back as 1400 B.C., according to a new study.
A bright red pigment, vermilion was used in ancient Andean rituals and is frequently found adorning gold and silver ceremonial objects in ancient burials of kings and nobles in South America.
Got a new gadget? Congratulations! Now, what to do with that old one? You might be able to sell it for a few bucks. At the very least, recycle it.
Most of us do neither, of course. Instead, our old gadgets sit in a box or drawer just in case they … well, just because they might … well, that’s just where old and outdated gadgets go. Don’t they?
Two types of genetically modified plants can remove toxic compounds from the environment, according to research by a pair of independent groups.
One group developed Arabidopsis plants—small plants related to cabbage and mustard—that can clean up soil contaminated with cyclonite, or RDX. The widely used explosive is highly toxic and carcinogenic.
Tiny amounts of the estrogen used in birth control pills can cause wild fish populations to collapse, according to a new study.
The finding raises concern about even low levels of estrogen in municipal wastewater, said study leader Karen Kidd, a biologist with the Canadian Rivers Institute at the University of New Brunswick.