Citizen-Scientists Share Sky-High Shark Scenes
Drone footage of wildlife promotes collaboration between researchers and hobbyists
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Science through time
The Great Oxidation Event: How our atmosphere went from deadly gas to fresh air
In the beginning, Earth’s atmosphere had no oxygen. Then photosynthesis made life as we know it possible, produced much of our mineable iron, and caused an ice age.
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Freezing Frogs Help Preserve Human Organs for Transplant
Primary Source: Al-Attar R, Storey KB. Lessons from nature: Leveraging the freeze-tolerant wood frog as a model to improve organ
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The Forest of Drunken Trees
Black spruce forests in northern regions are tipping over. A new study seeks to understand why, and uncovers the role climate change plays in tilting trees.
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The Key to Higher Quality Fruit: Fungus!
Agricultural research reveals a vast swath of benefits to the quality of citrus fruits when tree roots are introduced to fungal partners.
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Hey, lay off the viceroy!
The viceroy butterfly had a bad rap for far too long. Here’s how researchers cleared its name.
Read moreUsing Plants to Protect the Past
A new study found that plants that are culturally significant to Native American tribes are abundant near archeological sites in Bears Ears National Monument suggesting that historical human behavior is still shaping our ecosystems today. Now, we need to use our resources to protect this cultural and ecological legacy and educate others about the history of these ancestral lands.
Read moreSperm Whales Learned to Avoid Nineteenth-Century Whalers
Nineteenth-century whalers questioned why sperm whales were getting drastically more challenging to capture. At the time, whalers of the North Pacific Ocean kept detailed logbooks about sperm whale sightings and harpoon strikes. These logbooks could help provide answers to the problem whalers faced in the 1800s and to the sperm whale populations struggling to recover today. Sperm whales that have encountered whalers might communicate to other sperm whales how to avoid the dangerous whalers. This information transfer between whales could help them adapt to rapidly changing environments.
Read moreThe churning seas are slowing down: The Atlantic Ocean circulation at its weakest in millennia
In the Atlantic Ocean there is a giant “river” that affects many aspects of life for us terrestrial dwellers, from the regional climates we enjoy to the sea level at our shore. This “river” is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), one of the planet’s major ocean circulation systems. The ocean has been churning for millenia through this circulation system, but now there are signs of change.
Read moreMelanism in Monarchs: The Use and Importance of Museum Collections in Scientific Research
Original Paper: Echevarría Ramos, M. and C.M. Hulshof. 2019. Using digitized museum collections to understand the effects of habitat on
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