Encyclopedia of Earth
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Earth, an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is a free, expert-reviewed collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other's work. The articles are written in non-technical language and are useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public.
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Featured Article
Plants and Healthy Indoor Air
Poor indoor air quality has been linked to health problems. This article, written by Dr. Luz Claudio*, appeared first in Environmental Health Perspectives—the peer-reviewed, open access journal...
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Featured Article
Phosphor-Based White LEDs: Mixed Blessings?
Light-emitting diodes use less energy and last longer than even compact fluorescent lights.This article, written by Angela Spivey*, appeared first in Environmental Health Perspectives—the...
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Featured Article
Review: Forest restoration
This Review, written by Raf Aerts and Olivier Honnay*, appeared first in BioMed Central Ecology—a peer-reviewed, open access journal. This review article is part of the BMC Ecology series...
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Featured Article
Photovoltaic energy valuation model
Photovoltaic Energy Valuation Model Sandia National Laboratories in collaboration with Solar Power Electric™ has developed PV ValueTM, an electronic form to standardize appraisals of homes...
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Featured Article
Social Media: Predicting and Tracking Disease Outbreaks
How is society transforming disease surveillance and the way that health officials respond to disasters and pandemics? This article, written by Charles W. Schmidt*, appeared first in Environmental...
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Featured Article
Phrynocephalus
Phrynocephalus (Toad Headed Agamas) is the genus of Agamid lizards first described by Kaup in 1825. It includes over 40 species of small and medium sized lizards characteristic of arid regions of...
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Featured Article
Herbivore
Introduction A herbivore is an animal that obtains its energy and nutrients by feeding on plants. Different types of herbivores eat different plant parts. For example, folivores feed...
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Featured Article
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Introduction The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a program of studies designed to assess the health and...
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Featured Article
Drosera rotundifolia
Drosera rotundifolia is an insectivorous plant that occurs in marshes, bogs and fens in a circumboreal distribution; common names for this species are Roundleaf Sundew or Common Sundew. This...
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Featured Article
Yellow Fever
Introduction Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Yellow fever is a viral disease that is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected...
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Featured Event
22 March 2012: World Water Day
World Water Day: 22 March 2012 This year the World Water Day Theme is: Water and Food Security International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention...
Featured Resource
2012 International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
International Year of Sustainable Energy for All: 2012 On 16 February 2011, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a Resolution (A/RES/65/151) declaring Year 2012 to be the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. In that...
Latest News
A World Environment Organisation?
Zakri Abdul Hamid, Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, notes in SciDev.Net on 5 January 2012 that "The proposed UN World Environment Organisation is badly needed to give poor...
More in this Site…
Articles
Introduction Patterns of energy have changed dramatically since the onset of the Industrial Revolut...
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a United States federal agency within the U.S. De...
Overview Dugongs were once common throughout the shallow coastal waters of East Malaysia (northeast ...
The Energy, Growth and Pollution network was established in 2003 to link together historians working on the hi...- Introduction This article reviews and synthesizes our current knowledge about the impact of Arctic sea ice ...
News Articles
NOAA seeks comment on draft environmental impact statement on Arctic oil and gas exploration NOAA is see...
Feeding the world while protecting the planet International team of researchers designs global plan for susta...- NIAID Scientists Consider 200 Years of Infectious Diseases Unpredictable, ever-changing and with potenti...
National Ocean Policy Action Plan draft requests public comments on actions Federal agencies will take to impr...
In December, a high-speed robotic screening system, aimed at protecting human health by improving how chemical...
Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Call for Public Input on Early Restoration of the Gul...
Events
Resources
International Year of Sustainable Energy for All: 2012 On 16 February 2011, the General Assembly of the Unite...
World Environment Day (WED) is an annual event thatis aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated ...
International Year of Chemistry 2011 The International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC 2011) is a worldwide cele...- SUMMARY Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, discusses the div...
SUMMARY This activity (obtained from NOAA)is intended to introduce students to some sources of information a...
SUMMARY In this activity developed by NOAA, students model estuaries, artificially enriching both fresh and s...
Galleries
The practice of science depends on the availability, and reliability, of a wide spectrum of tools. We are fami...
Photos submitted by Donald Blake, University of California, Irvine. Images by NOAA P-3, taken July 2010....
A gallery featuring photos of some of the world's largest oil spills, along with a little information about ea...
Photo examples of dispersant application platforms, application results, and marine mammals that must be ident...
Videos
Taken from Young Voices for the Planet, Olivia's Birds and the Oil Spill documents 11-year old Olivia Bouler'...
Workers continue to pick up tar balls on the Gulf shore's beaches one year after the BP oil spill. Although ...
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has impacted condominium rentals and other tourism related business along ...
Early Show contributor Debbye Turner Bell reports on the animals in the Gulf of Mexico one year after the larg...
Since the Deepwater BP oil spill in April 2010, scientists have been collecting thousands of plant, animal, so...
With the one year anniversary of the BP oil spill disaster approaching, Peter Greenberg spoke with Russ Mitche...








