Science

"In 2004, CDC scientists published a reassuring report about lead contamination in Washington’s water even though they knew that thousands of blood lead measurements had been lost. Now Congress wants to know why."

As governments tighten their belts, it's getting harder for them to pay scientists to monitor the health of the nation's ecosystems. So increasingly, they're turning to citizens who do that kind of work for free. The Environment Report's Ann Dornfeld reports on the growing influence of these "citizen scientists".

One key chemical tool used to control mosquito-spread malaria in the developing world -- DDT -- has harmful environmental consequences. Now a new article in the journal Nature tells of research on chemicals that may promise to be effective mosquito repellants by blocking the insects' ability to detect carbon dioxide.

"In an age of angst about security and Arctic sovereignty, it's no mean feat piecing together an oceanographic expedition involving scientists from the United States, Russia and elsewhere and launching the whole affair from a northern U.S. port."

"An online encyclopedia aiming to describe every type of animal and plant on the planet has reached 170,000 entries and is helping research into aging, climate change and even the spread of insect pests."