By Lauren Sommer When California’s historic five-year drought finally relented a few years ago, the tally of dead trees in the Sierra Nevada was higher than almost anyone expected: 129 million. Most are still standing, the dry patches dotting the mountainsides. But some trees did survive the test of heat and drought. Now, scientists are […]
By Malavika Vyawahare Think of a reptile that’s been genetically mutated, and Godzilla springs to mind. Or maybe ninja turtles. But the real thing is here, and it’s neither hell-bent on destroying Tokyo nor eating pizza in the sewers. Instead, it’s a pale, finger-sized lizard — the world’s first gene-edited reptile, researchers at the University […]
The rallying cry to build it again and to build it better than before is inspiring after a natural disaster, but it may not be the best course of action, according to new research published in the journal Science. “Faced with global warming, rising sea levels, and the climate-related extremes they intensify, the question is […]
Hope may be on the horizon for the world’s depleted coral reefs thanks to scientists who successfully reproduced endangered corals in a laboratory setting for the first time, according to Reuters. The majestic beauty of the biodiversity in ocean’s coral reefs is under threat from the climate crisis. Viruses and bacteria that are hostile to […]
It’s become a familiar story with the Trump administration: Scientists write a report that shows the administration’s policies will cause environmental damage, then the administration buries the report and fires the scientists. The latest chapter in that book happened this summer in California when federal officials suppressed a scientific report that warned that the administration’s […]
Two groups of researchers have found microplastics in Arctic ice and snow, Reuters reported Wednesday. A U.S.-led team discovered microplastics in ice core samples taken on an 18-day icebreaker expedition through the Northwest Passage this summer. Meanwhile, German and Swiss scientists found plastic pieces in snow samples taken from the Arctic, the Swiss Alps and […]
By Lindsay Campbell If you’re a sucker for a good avocado, an even better one could be on the way. Scientists from Mexico’s National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity, Texas Tech University and the University at Buffalo have cracked the genetic code of the popular Hass avocado. They say this DNA discovery provides foundational information […]
Scientists studying plants’ ability to gobble up carbon from the atmosphere have found that plants will offer protection from greenhouse gases for another 80 years. Beyond 2100, they are not sure if carbon levels will become so high that that plants will reach a breaking point where they can no longer remove carbon from the […]
By Willie Mackenzie When it comes to being otherworldly, alien and bizarre, the ocean has plenty to fuel the imagination and make your jaw drop: giant scuttling bugs, jelly-like blobfish, slimy mucus-drenched hagfish, hairy armed lobsters and almost anything else you could imagine. It’s no big surprise that Hollywood science fiction films so often look […]
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