Crops could face double trouble from insects and a warming climate

Gregg Howe, Michigan State University and Nathan Havko, Michigan State University

For millennia, insects and the plants they feed on have been engaged in a co-evolutionary battle: to eat or not be eaten. Until recently, the two antagonistic sides have maintained a stalemate of sorts. With climate change, however, warmer temperatures could tip the balance in favor of the insects and spell danger for crops and the farmers that tend to them.

Small-scale mining for gold has produced long-lasting toxic pollution, from 1860s California to modern Peru

Jacqueline Gerson, Duke University; Austin Wadle, Duke University, and Jasmine Parham, Duke University

Gold is everywhere in modern life, from jewelry to electronics to smartphones. The global electronics industry alone uses 280 tons annually. And that demand keeps growing.

But most people know little about the environmental impacts of gold mining. About 15% of world gold production is from artisanal and small-scale mining in over 70 countries throughout Asia, Africa and South America. These operations employ 10 to 19 million workers. They often are poorly policed and weakly regulated.

Scientists have found oil from the Deepwater Horizon blowout in fishes’ livers and on the deep ocean floor

Over the decade since the Deepwater Horizon spill, thousands of scientists have analyzed its impact on the Gulf of Mexico. The spill affected many different parts of the Gulf, from coastal marshes to the deep sea.