Current methods to predict landslides rely primarily on rainfall intensity. Now, a new model combines various water-related factors with machine learning. When applied to more than 600 landslides in California, model identified the conditions that caused 89% of the events.

In the middle of summer, garden vegetables like green beans are proliferating, but so are pests that like to chew and suck on them. Now, a study in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry suggests growing bush basil near bean plants could offer a cost-effective, natural (and tasty!) alternative to chemical repellants. The fragrant herb not only helped the beans develop their own defenses against spider mites but also attracted the pests’ natural enemies.

An estimated 12% of first graders’ most-used media at home is educational, a new study suggests. Results also showed that higher use of educational media was associated with both more time spent reading and less overall time in front of a screen – a signal that educational video, app and game use is not replacing reading.