On the memory of trees.
Scientific American looks at the work of ecologist Suzanne Simard, and her efforts to preserve “mother trees,” which have intelligence, memories, and even look out […]
ecology
Humans have touched 97% of the Earth’s land.
Science News has disheartening news for would-be explorers or lovers of virgin wilderness. The latest survey has found that no more than 3 percent of […]
Counting elephants from space: satellite conservation.
The BBC reports on a new use for space hardware: training computers to count elephant populations from 370 miles overhead to keep them from hurtling […]
Coho salmon are getting killed by road runoff contaminated with rubber-tire chemicals.
Science has the cheerful results of a study in the U.S. Pacific Northwest that found a compound from rubber tires – a chemical so common, […]
Tasmanian devils are being reintroduced to mainland Australia
CNN and other outlets are covering some good news about the cutest of marsupial carnivores. Tasmanian devils are doing well enough (and so is their […]
Bringing otters back really paid off.
Science News breaks down the costs and benefits of restoring a predator like otters to an ecosystem, and finds that the ecological conservation approach pays […]
Antarctica is turning green.
Reuters reports that, if we didn’t have enough proof that world is turning inside out, the so-called White Continent is now warm enough that its […]
Insects are dying off – except those living in fresh water.
The Guardian has grim news for bugs (which include critters like the bees that pollinate our crops) with a little flash of hope. Insect populations […]
Forest fires boost bats.
Scientific American checks out how fire-prevention efforts are actually apparently hurting bat populations: In California’s Sierra Nevada ecosystem, bats have adapted to occasional blazes. But […]
Compost burials really work.
Science News digs into the science behind leaving the world a slightly more fertile place when you go, by having your body naturally composted after […]
Scientists endorse civil disobedience to get somebody to actually do something about climate change.
Reuters reports on scientists – 400 of them – who have shed the stereotypical dispassionate patience that goes with, you know, gathering data over long […]
Science Art: Biosphere_2_-_panoramio_(4) by Qygen, 19 Aug 2003.
Click to embiggen Sure, I listen to an episode of Omnibus! here and there, and the latest was on the oddly half-forgotten project that was […]
Fishing ecology: the big ones are getting away.
Nature shares the sad fact that “freshwater megafish” – in other words, the really big ones, the 60-pounders out there in the rivers and lakes […]
Fishermen who communicate make the environment healthier.
Hakai takes a sociological look at an ecological problem, with research that shows marine environments are measurably healthier in areas where fishermen communicate openly about […]
Human beings swallow 50,000 microparticles of plastic per year. More, if you like bottled water.
And, The Guardian adds, we also inhale about that much plastic into our lungs as well. The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology, is […]