Fertilizer is crucial to agricultural production, but its increasing use is leaking nitrous oxide, an ozone-deteriorating gas, into the atmosphere. iStockphoto.com hide caption

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, speaks at a campaign rally Tuesday at Tokyo's Akabane Station. A landslide victory is predicted for the DPJ, which would end the Liberal Democratic Party's historic run in power. Junko Kimura/Getty Images hide caption

For 26 years, Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton (left) shepherded kids through the exciting world of books. The show, which fostered a love of reading, was the third longest-running program in PBS history, outlasted only by Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. GPN/Nebraska ETV Network; WNED Buffalo hide caption