(John Poole / NPR)

Mongolia is now tapping huge natural resources. But they're in the Gobi region, where traditional nomadic herding is under assault and desertification is a major problem. Herders are worried the mines will siphon off already dwindling water supplies, while trucks and roads destroy pastureland.

From rooftop apiaries in Paris to a vegetable-and-chicken farm in Philadelphia, agriculture has come to the city. Urban farmer Mary Seton Corboy and food writer Jennifer Cockrall-King talk about the future of food in the city. Plus, Tama Matsuoka Wong gives tasty tips for eating garden weeds.

(Keith Srakocic / AP)

Drug take-back programs are gaining popularity as a safe way to dispose of extra prescriptions. But a study from the University of Michigan suggests that chucking them in your household trash may be just as safe and more environmentally-friendly, thanks to reduced overall pollution.

(Susan Philips / WHYY)

A new law grants doctors access to information about trade-secret chemicals used in natural gas drilling. Doctors say they need the information to treat patients who may have been exposed to chemicals. But the law also says doctors can't tell anyone else — not even other doctors — about what's in the formulas.

(Bo Barker Jorgensen / Science/AAAS)

Back when the dinosaurs ruled the Earth, some hardy bacteria took up residence at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Eighty six million years later, they're still there. And a new study says they're living out the most Spartan lifestyle known on this planet.

(courtesy California Strawberry Commission)

We may romanticize that strawberries are grown down the road, but most of them come from California. And a complex web of plant cloning practices, relocation and fumigation has cropped up to keep it that way. Although scientists are exploring new options, like soil-free growing.

(Marc Allan / AP)

As five large fires burn thousands of acres and threaten some communities in the Southwest, federal response teams say they have plenty of resources available and that this wildfire season is actually getting off to a slow start.

(David Gilkey / NPR)

Four years ago, an atmospheric scientist near Boulder, Colo., stumbled on surprising air pollution data: The region's levels of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, were far higher than anyone would have expected. What was going on? The search for an answer led straight to the natural gas and oil fields of northern Colorado.

(iStockphoto.com)

The public health honchos agreed with an expert panel that recommended in January that anything greater than 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood for kids 5 and younger should be considered dangerous. That's half the current standard and represents the first reduction since 1991.

(Center for Whale Research)

The U.S. Navy is in the process of renewing its permits to conduct sonar and explosive tests off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. But the recent unexplained death of a young orca who washed ashore in February has thrown a wrench in the process. Experts say injuries to the whale may indicate she was exposed to an underwater explosion or sonar testing.

(NPR)

Many residents of Dish, Texas, blame the fracking operations that surround their tiny town for a host of health problems — from nosebleeds to cancer. The former mayor was so scared, he left town. But scientists who've studied Dish say there's not enough evidence to link natural gas operations to any illness.

(Maggie Starbard / NPR)

Is fracking making people sick? The question has ignited a national debate. A proposed study in northern Pennsylvania could help resolve the issue. By mining more than 10 years' worth of patient records, researchers hope to better understand the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing on health.

(NPR)

Hundreds of thousands of natural gas wells have sprung up across the country. In Garfield County, Colo., the drilling rigs are so close to homes that some people call them "Close Encounters." When the gas boom began a decade ago, residents began asking: Is it safe to live this close? Their quest for answers became too polarizing to pursue.

(NPR)

Mysterious fumes wafting in from outside have repeatedly sickened several nurses at a rural Pennsylvania health clinic, forcing the clinic to temporarily relocate. Like many other people living near gas wells around the country, the clinic's staff wonder whether the industry in their backyard is making them sick.

(NPR)

Industry has ruined a lot of Pennsylvania's water. Coal mining companies hammered the state, leaving behind acidic water that turned thousands of miles of streams into dead zones. People in the state are looking for ways to make sure the fracking boom doesn't deal another blow to its water.

People living on the front step of the natural gas boom have the same questions: What kinds of pollutants are entering our water and air, and are those pollutants making us sick? Explore key components of the natural gas production process — and the questions scientists are asking.

The oil boom in western North Dakota has sparked a massive migration. Communities that struggled to keep people are now tripling in size as workers from all over seek their fortunes. In South Dakota, officials say there's oil in their state too. But before drillers head toward Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills, North Dakota's experience is being watched closely.

(Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)

You may think of surfers as slackers. But in Santa Cruz, Calif., they're city council members and business owners. And they're also conservationists — who just got their piece of the central California coast named a World Surfing Reserve.

The Garbage-Men is a band of high school-aged musicians who play instruments made out of recycled cereal boxes, buckets, and other materials they've rescued from the trash. Guitarist Jack Berry and drummer Ollie Gray talk about the band and their signature "trashy" sound.