Let the games begin! Having fun and playing games can improve the lives of people and wildlife.

With environmental conditions deteriorating across the globe, there’s no time to stop and play games. Except for when the solutions to these problems can be found by playing games. Find out how researchers, conservationists, and farmers in France all played a game to improve land management in a wet grassland.

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Using genetics to reveal how coffee agriculture affects a forest dwelling rodent

Strong conservation plans are enriched by data that show which features of the habitat are important for wildlife. DNA analyses can reveal how landscape features join or separate populations without necessarily needing the observational data collected from studying animals moving in the wild. These methods can be helpful for conservation policies for elusive or understudied species. Read on to find out how coffee plantations affect an elusive forest dwelling rodent.

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California Electrification – what buildings, the grid, and the environment need in an age of energy transition and climate change

A team of energy scientists from California tackle the big question of what will electricity demand look like in a changing climate? By analyzing the evolution of the electric grid to supply an increasing demand under the state’s climate action plan AND the increasing demand to make people comfortable in a variable and changing climate, these researchers have given imperative insight into the future of California electrification.

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Large Carnivores on the Rise

Many large carnivores have been increasing in number along with people, which could lead to more conflicts between the carnivores and people. Wolves in particular are starting to make a comeback after their population sizes were reduced due to hunting and loss of prey. It is important to bring wolves back because they play an important role in maintaining the balance of an ecosystem by controlling the population size of their prey. Their reintroduction and increasing population sizes have led to research to figure out how wolves and people can live peacefully together.

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Why is it important to do research at seal rehabilitation centers?

For many animal lovers, working as a seal rehabilitator seems like a dream job. You spend all day taking care of baby seals and release them when they’re strong enough to live on their own. But have these types of rehabilitation centers done enough research on what makes a seal ready for release? Could the time spent in rehabilitation cause the seals future problems or make it harder for them to survive in the wild? If so, should we stop seal rehabilitation all together?

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Learning through Observing: Social learning occurs across vertebrate species

Social learning is widely thought to be something done only by species with social lives. However, recent research is showing that even more solitary species participate in social learning. A team of researchers from Australia tested the ability of a solitary shark species to learn through observing and mimicking members of their own species. They found that these particular sharks are capable of learning in this way, which contributes to our understanding of these animals’ lives and what we can do to conserve them.

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