Trigger happy

It is estimated that 20 million metric tons of lead were shot out of American guns in the twentieth century-and that’s just on American soil. But in addition to killing thousands of people every year, are these bullets causing further damage by contaminating the environment? Virginia Tech’s Donald Rimstidt doesn’t think so. He examined the land around a US Forest Service firing range near Blacksburg, Virginia, one of 9,000 nonmilitary shooting ranges in America. He found 11 tons of shot and 12 tons of lead bullets on the range. He determined that the bullets were contaminating the top three inches of soil but were not leaching into groundwater, which apparently satisfied his criteria for environmental safety.

-Zoe Cormier
Source: Geological Society of America

Conservation parks for Mars

An astrobiologist and a microbiologist have laid out a plan for creating conservation parks on Mars. They claim that when humans do begin visiting the red planet a system should be in place to protect the landscape. “It is the right of every person to stand and stare across the beautiful barrenness and desolation of the Martian surface without having to endure the eyesore of pieces of crashed spacecraft scattered across the landscape,” they write in the journal Space Policy. The researchers are also concerned about preserving the integrity of any life that may exist on Mars. Here on Earth, it is estimated that every year an area twice the size of Florida of unprotected rainforest is chopped down.

-Z.C. Source: Nature

Animal magnetism

Search through the internet and you’ll find a plethora of magnetic jewelry advertised, with claims that magnetic fields can alleviate pain. Scientists have always maintained that there is no scientific proof that magnetism can heal. While many studies have shown that magnetism can affect living tissue, no study has ever really shown how-until now. Research shows that subjecting bacteria to magnetic fields can prevent the buildup of a dangerous form of oxygen that can damage DNA and can cause our cells to age. In a related story, biologists have finally confirmed that homing pigeons navigate using the Earth’s magnetic fields, most likely because their beaks actually contain small particles of iron. Pigeons with anesthetized beaks, or with magnets strapped to their beaks, were unable to navigate properly.

-Z.C.
Source: Nature