Earth

MOSCOW - A Russian spacecraft designed to burnish the nation's faded space glory in a mission to one of Mars' moons has turned into one of the heaviest, most toxic pieces of space junk ever. It will come crashing down to Earth in just a few days. The Russian space agency Roscosmos' latest forecast has the unmanned Phobos-Ground probe falling out of Earth's orbit Sunday or Monday, with the median time placing it over the Indian Ocean just north of Madagascar. The agency said the precise time and place of its uncontrolled plunge could be determined only later, and unless someone actually spots fiery streaks in the sky, it might not ever be known where any surviving pieces end up. Space experts agree it is unlikely to pose big risks.

How loved, worshipped, and adulated are the Foo Fighters ? The alterna.rock outfit, founded by Nirvana veteran Dave Grohl , inspires such ecstasy in their fans, such fits of transcendent stomping that their concert Tuesday in Auckland, New Zealand, inspired actual, measurable geological tremors in Gaia , our Mother Earth's crust, says the Hollywood Reporter. We're talkin' shakin' and rollin' ('n' of course rockin') of the sort caused by volcanic events. A strong low frequency of tremors was detected more than a mile away from the show, which was packed with 50,000 fans.

DURBAN, South Africa - Brighten clouds with sea water? Spray aerosols high in the stratosphere? Paint roofs white and plant light-colored crops? How about positioning "sun shades" over the Earth? At a time of deep concern over global warming, a group of scientists, philosophers and legal scholars examined whether human intervention could artificially cool the Earth - and what would happen if it did. A report released late Thursday in London and discussed Friday at the U.N. climate conference in South Africa said that - in theory - reflecting a small amount of sunlight back into space before it struck the Earth's surface would have an immediate and dramatic effect.

A look into the fossil record suggests that tables may one day be turned on humanity. It probably won't happen the way it did in the original Planet of the Apes , where chimps and gorillas exploit their former exploiters. Instead, our planet could be reclaimed by a more ancient life-form - sulfur-eating bacteria. Oxygen is poison to them, so they live in shadowy places, such as the bottom of the Black Sea. But when the climate gets disturbed, they can come back with a vengeance.

MOSCOW - A Russian spacecraft on its way to Mars with 12 tons of toxic fuel is stuck circling the wrong planet: ours. And it could come crashing back to Earth in a couple of weeks if engineers can't coax it back on track. Space experts were hopeful yesterday that the space probe's silent engines can be fired to send it off to Mars. If not, it will plummet to Earth. But most U.S. space debris experts think that the fuel on board would explode harmlessly in the upper atmosphere and never reach the ground.

Apps for the environment and sustainability find the nearest places to recycle neon lights, corks, and crayons. One app makes you part of a social network to document species. Another helps identify products made with fair trade and green objectives in mind. The free GoodGuide application from GoodGuide Inc. for Android and iPhone rates thousands of products on a zero-to-10 scale to indicate whether they are "healthy, safe, green, and socially responsible. " Get the rating by scanning a bar code from within the app. It also lets you fine-tune results by setting personal preferences on a range of matters such as nutrition, "controversial ingredients," and impact on climate change.

Clean Earth Inc., of Hatboro, said it acquired privately owned Kleen Soil, a Moore Haven, Fla., facility that treats nonhazardous petroleum-contaminated soils. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Clean Earth said that it recycled more than three million tons of soil derived from various construction sites throughout the northeast in 2010 and that it expects to increase that volume in 2012 with the Kleen Soil acquisition. Existing Clean Earth treatment facilities are in Philadelphia and Morrisville, Pa.; South Kearny, Carteret and Jersey City, N.J.; Hagerstown, Md., and New Castle, Del.    - Reid Kanaley

It is called the "king tide," and for the next few days in low-lying areas along the Jersey Shore, Delaware Bay, and as far north as Philadelphia and Trenton along the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, this twice-a-year phenomenon could cause flooding. Not enough that anyone needs to build an ark. Some experts contend, however, that these higher-than-usual tides - arriving in the region Wednesday and continuing through Friday - offer a preview of what everyday ocean, river, and stream levels could look like years from now. "What's interesting about the king tides is how they serve as a window into our future.