Each and every one of us human beings has a story, a past, a present, and a future that is all wrapped up in our belief systems and how those belief systems affect our daily lives. What we believe comes from our educational background, the upbringing and training we had from our families, our ethnic and cultural influences, and research we have each independently done plus our life experiences. How we identify who we are, what we are, and why we are here is aligned with what we know or feel or understand to be truths according to our experiences and education thus far in life. What we believe about who we are in large part determines how we view our purpose in life. Our purpose in life provides our motivation and our blueprint for the decisions we make, the way we treat others, and the way we live our lives.

Children whose mothers encountered a large amount of air pollution during pregnancy may end up with lower IQs, according to a study appearing in next month’s Pediatrics. [More]

Prenatal exposure to environmental pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can adversely affect a child's intelligence quotient or IQ, according to new research.

Could straw houses be the buildings of the future? That’s what researchers will be testing this summer by constructing a “BaleHaus” made of prefabricated straw bale and hemp cladding panel.

A protein in influenza virus that helps it multiply also damages lung epithelial cells, causing fluid buildup in the lungs, according to new research. The researchers say the recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza and the rapid spread of this strain across the world highlight both the need to better understand how the virus damages the lungs and the urgency to find new treatments. Influenza is a contagious disease leading to about 36,000 human deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations every year in the United States alone.

The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast. The new research suggests that future tsunamis could reach a scale far beyond that suffered in the tsunami generated by the great 1964 Alaskan earthquake.

Using high-speed videography, a pair of researchers may have cracked the mystery of how raindrops take shape between the clouds and the ground. [More]

In a little more than an hour, the Eagle will have landed. And at 10:56 P.M. (Eastern Daylight Time), Neil Armstrong will set foot on the moon. Both of these events took place 40 years ago, of course, but they will unfold again across the Web today, to the delight of those nostalgic for the first manned moon landing in 1969 and those too young to remember. [More]

Dear EarthTalk: What effects do fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides used on residential lawns or on farms have on nearby water bodies like rivers, streams--or even the ocean for those of us who live near the shore? -- Linda Reddington, Manahawkin, NJ

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New research has shown it is possible to develop an 'invisibility cloak' to protect buildings from earthquakes. The seismic waves produced by earthquakes include body waves which travel through the earth and surface waves which travel across it. The new technology controls the path of surface waves which are the most damaging and responsible for much of the destruction which follows earthquakes.