Earth's Systems

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- Environment
Burning to learn
Fires cause billions of dollars of destruction to homes and forests every year. But not all fires are bad, especially for forests. With a better understanding of fire, scientists can both help people prevent dangerous fires — and identify which ones it would be better to let burn.
- Environment
Explainer: How and why fires burn
A fire’s colorful flame results from a chemical reaction known as combustion.
- Earth
Earthquake-triggered lightning?
An experiment with beads offers support for the claim that a rare type of lightning may accompany some quakes.
By Andrew Grant - Earth
Intel STS finalist takes on arsenic poisoning
Concerned about arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh, Intel Science Talent Search finalist Thabit Pulak invented an affordable filter to help people remove this toxic pollutant from their drinking water.
- Environment
Does lightning sculpt mountains?
A new study sparks debate about how much rubble on a mountainside has been blasted loose by powerful bolts from the sky.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Explainer: Ice sheets and glaciers
Ice sheets and glaciers give scientists clues about climate change.
By Douglas Fox - Environment
Explainer: All crude oil is not alike
Crude oil comes in conventional and unconventional types.
By Janet Raloff -
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- Chemistry
Explainer: Ocean acidification
Here’s why shellfish and other animals in the sea suffer when the ocean is forced to absorb too much carbon dioxide.
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