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By Geoff Brumfiel of Nature magazine GRENOBLE, FRANCE When its experiments started in earnest earlier this year, many scientists hoped that the world's most powerful collider would turn up new particles, additional dimensions and perhaps even a small black hole or two. [More]

Prolonged dry conditions from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic this summer has some farmers concerned about how it will impact their crops. The corn crop, an important staple along the parched agricultural zone extending from Iowa to Pennsylvania, is already being affected.

A crash involving two trains and a fire aboard a long-distance bus in China caused a total of 80 deaths in a two-day period late last week, raising questions about that nation's safety culture. [More]

Dear EarthTalk : I have a carpet made out of recycled PET bottles in my baby’s room and I started noticing a lot of the fibers on our clothes and even in my mouth! Is it dangerous for me or my baby to be in contact with and possibly ingest these fibers? -- Ashley Riccaboni, via e-mail

Today we are starting a new feature on the Scientific American Blog Network. [More]

For the background on what Open Lab is, see this post. [More]

In 1989 when scientists discovered the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis, a serious hereditary disorder that primarily strikes children of European descent, it seemed as though a long-hoped-for cure might soon follow. After all, tests in many laboratories showed that providing normal copies of the gene should enable patients to make healthy copies of the protein specified by the gene. If successful, that feat would go a long way toward restoring health in the tens of thousands of people around the world who suffered from cystic fibrosis and typically died in their late 20s

Girls and the rest of us aside, diamonds can be a geologist's best friend--especially if that geologist has a mass spectrometer and is looking for clues about what Earth looked like billions of years ago. [More]

By Ewen Callaway of Nature magazine One of the coral species hit hardest by climate change has become the first to have its genome published. [More]

Anyone who has ever owned an outdoor cat knows that it tends to disappear for hours, sometimes days, at a time. [More]

The MSU students are back from China, where they explored the culture, looked for fossils, and studied dinosaur eggs in the laboratory. [More]

I recently toured the New York City Second Avenue Subway construction site with Monica Bradley, Scientific American 's photo editor, and photographers Jeremy Floto and Cassandra Warner. [More]

By Ron Cowen of Nature magazine Newly released observations of the top quark -- the heaviest of all known fundamental particles -- could topple the standard model of particle physics. [More]

Dear EarthTalk : Can earthquake energy be harnessed for power, particularly in places like Japan? Also, how can Japan, so vulnerable to earthquakes, even have nuclear power?

It is Friday, when some bloggers go for lighter fare – like LOLcats! – but others ignore this old blogospheric tradition and post serious stuff instead. [More]