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Between smokestack and fish, mercury becomes more toxic
How does elemental released from burning coal get transformed into the toxic form that accumulates in fish? MIT/WHOI Joint Program graduate student Kathleen Munson is searching through 700 samples of seawater for answers.

What drives currents up seafloor Grand Canyons?

Award from National Academy of Sciences recognizes career spent understanding ecologically important marine microorganisms.

Tracking debris from damaged oil rigs could help forecast coastal impacts.
Also see Oceanus magazine article.

Winds are Northeast at 8.1 MPH (7 KT). The pressure is 1017.7 mb and the humidity is 90%. The wind chill is 41. Last Updated on Feb 5 2012, 1:51 am EST.

No tropical cyclones as of Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:44:09 GMT

As you watch the Patriots and Giants smash into each other Sunday, consider this.

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Regardless of who wins Super Bowl XLVI, Forrest Lucas will walk away a winner. That's because he bought the naming rights to Lucas Oil Stadium, where the game will be played.

What better way to grab football fans' attention.

Slow-motion replays of deep passes have mesmerized fans of American football for decades. The impossibly long, steady arc of a well-thrown ball is a thing of beauty.  In contrast, players sometimes refer to wobbly passes as ugly ducks, although just why isn't entirely clear, since ducks fly pretty well.

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Check out these stunning science images.

At a tiny outpost in the middle of Antarctica, Russian scientists are poised to become the first humans to reach a massive liquid lake that has been cut off from the sunlit world for millennia, and may house uniquely adapted life forms that are new to science.    

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In Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar , a skeptical Judas Iscariot questions with faux innocence (“Don’t you get me wrong/I only want to know”) the messiah’s deific nature: “Jesus Christ Superstar/Do you think you’re what they say you are?”

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A car accident, a rough tackle, an unexpected tumble. The number of ways to bang up the brain are almost as numerous as the people who sustain these injuries. And only recently has it become clear just how damaging a seemingly minor knock can be. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is no longer just a condition acknowledged in military personnel or football players and other professional athletes. Each year some 1.7 million civilians will suffer an injury that disrupts the function of their brains, qualifying it as a TBI.

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This Sunday, millions of Americans will sit down in front of their television or computer, crack open a few beers, and watch the Super Bowl. But if those viewers live in a housing project for the homeless, that booze could get them booted back out to the street. Many homeless housing projects have strict abstinence policies, and require residents to be completely sober. Permitting alcohol, many community organizers reason, would enable addictions and promote a downward spiral into continued drinking and declining health.

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They're tantalizingly close, but other groups may beat them.

The genetic homeland of Native Americans is a small mountainous region in southern Siberia, a new study suggests.

Caption: Electron micrograph of H5N1 virus (gold) Image: CDC/Courtesy of Cynthia Goldsmith; Jacqueline Katz; Sherif R. Zaki

NEW YORK Sparks flew Thursday night at a New York Academy of Sciences panel discussion about whether or not certain recent research into the H5N1 avian flu virus has created a major biosecurity threat and what, if anything, to do about it.

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