Word: nutrients
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Scientists say it is too soon to know why these Pfiesteria became toxic, but most suspect "nutrient loading," that is, an excess of nutrition pouring into the waters in which the bacteria live. The nutrients could come from many sources, including sewage- treatment plants. But in an area that is home to about 600 million chickens (outnumbering humans about 500 to 1), poultry is the leading suspect. Chicken manure is commonly used as fertilizer on farmlands around the affected waterways. Environmentalists say when it runs off into the water, it brings excessive levels of nitrogen. They have called for restrictions...
...east to west, pushing water away from the South American coast, so that the ocean's surface is a couple of feet lower off Peru than it is off Indonesia. The difference, although seemingly small, has important consequences: to replace the water that the winds have swept away, cold, nutrient-rich water from the depths wells up, and so Peru's waters are loaded with fish. But when an El Nino gets started, the pattern shifts. The trade winds dwindle, and may even start blowing from the west. The upwelling off Peru stops, and anchovies and other fish move...
...Right now, pop music is flaccid. The prefab hype of Spice Girls, the sugar-shock kiddie ditties of Hanson, the admirable wholesomeness but inexcusable tiresomeness of Bob Carlisle, the horrific power screeching of Celine Dion--turn it off. Turn it all off. It's meaningless olestra music, artificial and nutrient-free...
...lander, computer-driven devices measured the soil samples and fed them into the miniature biology lab, where they were analyzed for signs of growth, metabolism and respiration, processes that would signal the presence of living microorganisms. In one of the tests, a soil sample dampened with "chicken soup"--a nutrient broth--gave off a burst of oxygen. In another, unexpectedly large amounts of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide were released. While both results produced flurries of excitement at J.P.L., scientists eventually--though reluctantly--concluded that the gases resulted not from life processes, but from some exotic Martian chemistry. Their conclusion...
...tiny transparent worm measuring a millimeter from tip to tail, you would be nearly invisible to the naked eye. Nor would it be the way you spent your time. Moving little and eating less, you would pass all your days inside a Petri dish, resting atop a bed of nutrient...