HS-ESS3-4
Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
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Climate
Can scientists develop an icy sanctuary for Arctic life?
The final refuge for summer sea ice may also protect the creatures that depend on it. Saving it is an ambitious goal with many hurdles.
By Freda Kreier -
Environment
A new way to make plastics could keep them from littering the seas
Borrowing from genetics, scientists are creating plastics that will degrade. They can even choose how quickly these materials break down.
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Environment
Leaky sewer pipes pollute urban streams and bays with drugs
Scientists find that leaking sewer pipes around Baltimore, Md., spew thousands of doses of medicines into the Chesapeake Bay and other waterways.
By Laura Allen -
Materials Science
Analyze This: Hardened wood can make sharp steak knives
Researchers treated wood to make it hard and dense. Out of it, they carved sharp knives and nails that could substitute for ones made of steel.
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Tech
Scientists find a ‘greener’ way to make jeans blue
When coated onto jeans, a plant-based polymer reduces water and cuts the amount of toxic chemicals needed.
By Shi En Kim -
Environment
Everyday plastics can pollute, leaching thousands of chemicals
Plastic bags and containers leach potentially toxic chemicals into both food and water, but researchers yet don’t know how they might affect health.
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Environment
Cheatgrass thrives on the well-lit urban night scene
Middle-grade campers team up with ecologists at Denver University to show that streetlights boost the growth of a reviled invasive species.
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Tech
Tiny swimming robots may help clean up a microplastics mess
Big problem, tiny solution. Researchers in the Czech Republic have designed swimming robots that can help collect and break down microplastics.
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Environment
Wildfire smoke seeds the air with potentially dangerous microbes
Studies now show that most wildfires don’t kill microbes. That’s fueling worries about what risks these smoke hitchhikers might pose to people.
By Megan Sever -
Environment
Warming cities may see more rain — and frequent flooding
Scientists are seeking to understand why and how to mop up excess precipitation.
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Environment
Explainer: Urban heat islands and how to cool them
Cities transform landscapes covered in plants to ones covered in heat-absorbing asphalt and concrete. But ways exist to cool these urban heat islands.
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Earth
Stores and malls buy into ponds and rain gardens for flood control
An extra bonus: These rainy-day ponds clean up that dirty water running off parking lots.