May 09 Mercury makes rare trip between the Earth and the sun By Nsikan Akpan Don't miss Mercury's transit! It only happens 13 times per century. Continue reading
Oct 09 Watch 6:37 Extracting gold with mercury exacts a lethal toll By PBS News Hour In Indonesia, the use of mercury in small-scale gold mining has tragic health consequences for those living near mining operations. Toxic plumes and other forms of exposure cause neurological problems, bone deformities, vision loss, deafness and even death. The NewsHour's… Continue watching
Apr 30 NASA Probe Ends Mercury Mission With A Bang By Nsikan Akpan The planet Mercury earned a new crater when NASA's MESSENGER probe smashed into its scorched surface earlier this afternoon. The intentional crash landing ended an 11-year mission that brought us the most intimate peeks at our solar system's smallest… Continue reading
Mar 25 Watch 6:51 Supreme Court tests EPA's limits on mercury air pollution By PBS News Hour The Supreme Court heard arguments over federal pollution mandates. The EPA says its limits on toxic contaminants like mercury in power plant emissions are vital to human health, but energy producers are arguing the EPA didn’t take costs into consideration… Continue watching
Feb 17 Watch 7:59 Unearthing toxic conditions for impoverished gold miners By PBS News Hour Continue watching
Jan 27 Watch Diving into the Philippines' dangerous, underwater mines By Hari Sreenivasan, PBS News Hour, Frank Carlson Filipino divers disappear into water as opaque as chocolate milk as they blindly dig in search of gold trapped in muddy sediment. It's risky business: As miners go deeper, underwater tunnels could collapse or the compressor that provides air may… Continue watching
Jan 27 In Philippines, workers toil among hazards in compressor mining By Richard C. Paddock SANTA MILAGROSA, Philippines -- Brian Mullaton is 13 years old and makes his living by diving into deep, muddy holes. Continue reading
Dec 27 Watch In Peru, Gold Rush Leads to Mercury Contamination Concerns In remote regions of the Peruvian Amazon, extensive gold-mining operations have stirred major environmental concerns over mercury contamination in fish, fish-eating wildlife and humans. In collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, special correspondent Steve Sapienza reports. Continue watching
Mar 16 Watch First Rock From the Sun: NASA Set to Explore Mercury's Extreme Atmosphere Imagine traveling to a planet where the sun is 11 times stronger than on Earth, the temperature can swing 1,100 degrees and you have to maintain contact with headquarters back on Earth. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on NASA's tricky… Continue watching