Nearly 50% of US Bald Eagles Have Chronic Lead Poisoning, Heartbreaking Study Shows

It’s a common pattern during hunting season in the winter: Hunters shoot elk or deer, then eagles scavenge the waste.  That scavenged meal may have deadly consequences for eagles, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.   The researchers detected high rates of lead poisoning among the two most common types of eagles in … Read more

Meteorite hunters rejoice: Antarctica probably harbors 300,000 undiscovered space rocks

An artificial intelligence program suggests there may be hundreds of thousands of meteorites left for scientists to discover on the icy fields of Antarctica and reveals what may be the most likely places to unearth them, a new study finds. Nearly two-thirds of all meteorites recovered on Earth originate in Antarctica. The cold, dry nature … Read more

How changing levels of iron shaped the evolution of life on Earth — and why alien hunters should take note

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Hal Drakesmith, Professor of Iron Biology, University of Oxford Jon Wade, Associate Professor of Planetary Materials, University of Oxford Our red blood is full of iron. We need iron for growth and for immunity. It is even added … Read more