For many people, the holidays are rich with time-honored traditions like decorating the Christmas tree, lighting the menorah, caroling, cookie baking, and sipping from the unity cup. But there’s another unofficial, official holiday tradition that spans all ages and beliefs and gives people across the world hope for a better tomorrow: the New Year’s resolution. […]
In the Bolivian Andes, scientists found 20 new species and rediscovered plants and animals not seen for decades. The findings were made on a 14-day scientific expedition in March 2017 led by non-profit environmental group Conservation International (CI) high into the cloud forests of the Andean mountains. As part of CI’s Rapid Assessment Program, which […]
Human made stuff now outweighs life on Earth. That’s the finding of a new study published in Nature Wednesday that sought to bring home the full weight of what human activity has done to the planet. “The study provides a symbolic and mass-based quantitative characterization of the Anthropocene – the geological age of ‘the era […]
By Melissa Gaskill Two decades ago scientists and volunteers along the Virginia coast started tossing seagrass seeds into barren seaside lagoons. Disease and an intense hurricane had wiped out the plants in the 1930s, and no nearby meadows could serve as a naturally dispersing source of seeds to bring them back. The seeding effort eventually […]
A grim new assessment of the world’s flora and fungi has found that two-fifths of its species are at risk of extinction as humans encroach on the natural world, as The Guardian reported. That puts the number of species at risk near 140,000. The new report, State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020, and […]
As human activity transforms the atmosphere, flowers are changing their colors. A study published in Current Biology this month found that the ultraviolet (UV) pigmentation of certain flowers had changed in response to the climate crisis and the depletion of the ozone layer. While this isn’t something that would be visible to the human eye, […]
By Melissa Gaskill During a trip to Cuba’s Gardens of the Queen a few years ago, I found myself around small mangrove islands in an area called Boca Grande. Floating on clear, calm water, my travel group and I kicked over tall seagrass beds and rays camouflaged in the sandy flats. Fish of all kinds […]
By Gregory Moore With massive fronds creating a luxuriously green canopy in the understory of Australian forests, tree ferns are a familiar sight on many long drives or bushwalks. But how much do you really know about them? First of all, tree ferns are ferns, but they are not really trees. To be a tree, […]
By Tara Lohan Warming temperatures on land and in the water are already forcing many species to seek out more hospitable environments. Atlantic mackerel are swimming farther north; mountain-dwelling pikas are moving upslope; some migratory birds are altering the timing of their flights. Numerous studies have tracked these shifting ranges, looked at the importance of […]
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