September 2019 – Page 2

Friday, April 19, 2024

Is our environment affecting our weight?

September 16, 2019September 16, 2019 Riley Lovejoy 0 Comments health, human health, obesity, weight loss

When most of us think about gaining or losing weight, we see it as a straightforward equation of calories in vs. calories burned. If it’s really that simple, though, why do so many struggle with weight-loss even while following targeted diet and exercise plans? Recently, scientists have begun to identify “obesogens” – chemicals that boost obesity risk – in our environment. Understanding the role of these chemicals in obesity (in addition to diet, activity, genetics, and other known risk factors) may help us understand why some people have an especially difficult time losing weight.

Case Studies Climate Environmental Science

Hang on to that tree! Lizards that survived hurricane Maria showed increases in grip strength

September 13, 2019 Kevin Aviles Rodriguez 0 Comments Climate, Climate Change, Ecology, hurricanes

The 2019 hurricane season started off with a bang. It’s clear that climate change has affected the frequency and severity of hurricanes. To understand whether species will be able to cope with more frequent severe storms we need more research to see how hurricanes can affect populations of plants and animals. Read on to find out how hurricane Maria in 2017 affected lizards in Dominica.

Environmental Science

Surviving in the age of microplastics: the tale of a curious shrimp

September 13, 2019September 13, 2019 Lindsay Green-Gavrielidis 0 Comments crustaceans, evolution, microfibers, microplastics, Pollution

Each year, a tremendous amount of plastic waste enters the marine environment. As plastic ages, it breaks down in to smaller and smaller pieces, called microplastics, but never degrades. These tiny plastic fibers are eaten by numerous organisms and can cause organ damage or even death. But one species is able to rid its stomach of accidentally ingested microplastics. This is the tale of the Atlantic ditch shrimp and how it will survive in the age of microplastics.

Case Studies Human Exposure and Public Health

Detective Work in the Nuclear Era: Investigating a Mysterious Radioactive Event

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019 Munim Deen 0 Comments Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Safety, Radioactive waste

Nuclear alarm bells rang loudly in 2017 when sensors all around Europe detected sudden increases of a potent radioactive substance in the air. There were no known nuclear-related incidents or accidents at the time. This is the story of how a multi-national team worked together to monitor, analyze, and finally pinpoint the source of this still-undeclared release of radioactive material.

Case Studies Environmental Science Science through time

Crowdsourcing Sharks: a citizen science success story

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019 Alina Spera 0 Comments citizen science, Coastal Science, Conservation, reef, Shark

Conserving the environment and its organisms works most effectively when managers and scientists have a lot of environmental information. However, some of the world’s most vulnerable animals, like the sand tiger shark, are also the most secretive. Luckily for these scary looking predators, amateur scientists can be an agent of change.

Climate Environmental Science

Alexa, What’s Your Carbon Footprint?

September 10, 2019September 10, 2019 Laura Schifman 0 Comments alexa, amazon, artificial intelligence, carbon emissions, natural language processing

Artificial intelligence is used to develop algorithms that can process human languages and even respond to you. Behind every voice assistant like Amazon’s Alexa is a network of algorithms that help the voice assistant understand and interact with us. Behind every voice assistant are also hundreds of thousands of pounds of CO2 emissions. Where do these emissions come from and what can we do about it?

Case Studies Ecosystems

Be quiet, please – I’m listening for bees

September 9, 2019 Pernilla Borgstrom 0 Comments noise pollution, plant-pollinator interactions, plants, pollination

Sounds are everywhere in nature, and are important communication tools for many organisms. Plants may not be the first organisms you’d think of that would rely on sound to assess their environment, but new research shows that flowers can respond to the sound of a nearby buzzing bee by producing sweetened nectar, likely an adaptation that lets them avoid “wasting” resources on nectar production in the absence of hungry pollinators.

Environmental Science

Can you figure out what species this is? Computers can

September 5, 2019 Abigail Lewis 0 Comments animals, biodiversity, citizen science, Conservation, identification

Protecting wild animals requires far more data than scientists could collect alone, so researchers often enlist the help of amateur “citizen scientists” to help identify animals in photos. However, with more and more large scale projects that need help from citizen scientists, it is taking an increasingly long time to process all of the photos from any individual study. Marco Willi from the University of Minnesota and his colleagues thought there might be a way to speed things up: by getting computers to identify most of the easy animals, and leaving humans to figure out the extra hard ones.

Case Studies Climate Ecosystems Environmental Science

Which Wetland? National Dataset Helps Reduce Flood Risk

September 4, 2019 Brittany Maule 0 Comments Climate Change, coastal environments, hurricanes, modeling, wetlands

Flooding is an expensive and dangerous problem across the globe. Freshwater wetlands can help reduce flood risk and damage. During large storm events, wetlands hold extra water allowing it more time to flow downstream or into the soil. In order to help communities understand where to spend their time and resources to utilize these important landscape features, researchers created a national dataset that identifies the wetlands that would be best for mitigating flood risk.