Lost in Time Zones: Pandas Experience Jet-Lag in Zoos
All animals have an internal clock, called a circadian rhythm, that helps the body know when to perform key functions
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Author: Brianne Palmer
What can Hawaiian Lava Tubes Teach Us about Life on Mars?
What do Hawaii and Mars have in common? They both might have suitable habitats for microbes that can survive the extreme conditions in space. Read on to learn about how scientists are using lava tubes from Hawaiian volcanoes to learn about how life might survive on Mars.
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Bend it Like Betula: the discovery of springy Arctic shrubs
When I was growing up, I loved snow days. As soon as school was canceled, all the neighborhood kids would
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How Citizen Science Led to The Discovery of Tree-Dwelling Toads
Two groups of citizen scientists in the UK discovered something previously unknown to science– toads living in trees. Read on to learn about how citizen science and collaborations with scientists can lead to more interesting questions and discoveries.
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New genetic insights provide hope for the vaquita porpoise
Vaquita porpoises have long been considered one of the most endangered species in the world. They are small sea mammals
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Did Climate Change Help Fossilize the Ocean?
When you think about a fossil, you might think about a towering T-Rex filling the atrium of a museum. Or
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Radioactive exclusion zone or restoration at work? Insights from the re-wilding of Chernobyl
In 1986 a nuclear disaster rocked Belarus and forced thousands of people to abandon their homes for fear of radiation exposure. Now, removed from the impacts of human settlements, wildlife are returning to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). In a new study, researchers studied the raptors in the CEZ to test re-wilding and ask the question: can removing humans from a landscape help restore the natural environments? And like all things in ecology, the answer is more complicated than it seems but offers a glimmer of hope for re-wilding endeavors in this Decade on Ecological Restoration.
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Who Pollinates a Potent Plant?
About once a decade, the corpse flower blooms and attracts human visitors of all ages who want to see the short-lived flower and smell the plant’s natural perfume of rotting flesh. But in the wild, these plants must attract a different kind of visitor –pollinators. Read on to learn more about the mysterious pollinators of the Corpse Flower and learn about the questions scientists still don’t know the answers to.
Read moreWhen Geological Processes Collide– Exploring the Link Between Earthquakes and Glaciers
What happens when glaciers melt? Scientists have discussed numerous effects of deglaciation including sea level rise and loss of habitats but recently, geologists have been thinking about how glaciers interact with the crust of the earth. Researchers from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks found a link between melting glaciers and earthquakes in Southeast Alaska which adds new understanding about the indirect effects of climate change and the role of humans in natural disasters.
Read moreCombine Crickets and Lockdowns and get an Unlikely Experiment
In the spring of 2020, we all dealt with lockdowns in a different way. In urban parks, animals were suddenly exposed to a world without humans, and this disrupted ongoing urban ecology experiments. But resourceful ecologists used the sudden silence near businesses and the uptick of outdoor recreation to understand how shifting human behaviors change timing and duration of chirping urban crickets.
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