EOS - Thallium, one of the most toxic heavy metals on Earth, is more abundant in the Baltic Sea than in waters with otherwise similar chemistry. A new study in Environmental Science and Technology finds that human activity—particularly since the 1940s—is likely behind these elevated levels. The Baltic Sea is euxinic, meaning the water both...
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - It was a cloudy July afternoon in Alaska's Kobuk Valley National Park, part of the biggest stretch of protected wilderness in the U.S. We were 95 kilometers (60 miles) from the nearest village and 400 kilometers from the road system. Nature doesn't get any more unspoiled. But the stream flowing past our...
INVERSE - Timothy Lyons, a distinguished professor of biogeochemistry, discusses his new research to better understand the history of the atmosphere on Mars. Scientists have developed a new model to better understand whether Mars once hosted water — and maybe even life. The Martian surface is an inhospitable place: It is too cold for humans...