Planet Earth - Spring 2003
NERC's award-winning free magazine, Planet Earth, is aimed at non-specialists with an interest in environmental science.
This issue is no longer in print.
* Unless specified, all articles are less than 1MB in size.
Space Invaders Ancient meteorites coming to rest on Earth are providing important information on recent changes in our climate.
Building bridges between science and schools Samantha Lacey writes about her experience with the Researchers in Residence scheme, which aims to get youngsters excited about science.
Shaken and stirred No, not an overdone cocktail but earthquakes - here in Britain - and they are much more common than you might think.
Still at the bar.....What's your poison? Peter Johnston explains how new computer models help predict how pollutants in drinking water travel through chalk.
Fake ice and levitation Zbigniew Ulanowski and Evelyn Hesse investigate the tiny ice crystals in cirrus clouds and their effects on our climate.
Profit without plunder Could crabwood oil help save South American rainforest and help the forest people to provide themselves with an income, asks Dermot O'Regan.
Polluted soils aren't as dead as they seem We all get by with a little help from our friends and so do trees. They could grow better on contaminated land with help from soil microbes.
NERC stars in space NERC boldly goes into space to observe Earth and contribute to the understanding of Earth systems.
Hunting contaminants with predatory birds While most of us look forward to a letter in the post, the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme hope for dead birds in theirs! The team analyses them for chemical contamination.
Past environments, present crisis The past is never truly past. It also affects our present. Charlotte Vye explains how events at the time of the dinosaurs affected decision-making during the 2001 epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.
Solving the mystery of the Latton mammoths How did the bones of 200 mammoths end up in a pile at the bottom of river? Read the article to find out.
Negotiating peace with cormorants Increasing cormorant numbers across Europe are causing conflict between man and bird. The REDCAFE project is promoting dialogue between relevant groups to manage the birds without causing all out war.
Turning great scientific ideas into reality A way to identify trees from DNA and a new process that removes steroid hormones from sewage are two ideas that NERC scientists are bringing to the commercial world.
Off-piste practice It's snow joke being a doctor or a dentist for the British Antarctic Survey. The number of patients may not provide too much of a challenge but the environment most certainly does.
Vanishing act What sounds like a conjuring trick in fact describes the capricious nature of nitrous oxide. Dave Reay thinks he's found out why this powerful greenhouse gas is so difficult to measure.