Invisibility — a superpower that once only seemed possible in the Harry Potter universe — is actually more realistic than we think. A special organism found in South American rainforests, aptly named the glass frog, is a virtually transparent amphibian with translucent green skin, muscle, and tissues. Only the frog’s major organs are visible when […]
How to disappear: Glass frogs and a lesson on hemoglobin flow Read More »
While people tend to focus on COVID-19’s disruption to our daily routines, there was a separate world of consequences for wildlife. Animals have always had to adapt to the changing behaviors of human civilization by moving their habitats and adjusting their usage of resources like food, water, and shelter to maximize survival. The COVID-19 pandemic
With people at home, more space to roam: How COVID affected bird behavior Read More »
Just when the world thought it had gotten a grasp on COVID-19, monkeypox emerged as another infectious disease and public health concern. Monkeypox is a viral disease classified as an Orthopoxvirus, a genus that includes smallpox, cowpox, camelpox, and similar diseases. Excluding smallpox, all human cases of orthopoxviruses are considered zoonoses, or diseases transmitted to
The return of monkeypox Read More »
Glass is an integral part of modern buildings, appreciated for its uniquely transparent nature that provides a literal window to the outside world. Made mostly of sand, sodium carbonate, and limestone, glass resists intense weather patterns and precipitation and is recyclable and relatively inexpensive to produce. However, glass has several weaknesses — it is thermally
Seeing through trees: Transparent wood as a next-generation glass Read More »
If current climate trends persist, the Arctic Ocean is predicted to become seasonally ice-free by the 2030s. Sea ice follows a cyclic pattern, partially melting in the summer and re-forming with the cooler temperatures of autumn and winter. However, rising global temperatures have increased the melting rate and decreased the formation rate. During future summers,
Ice, ice maybe: Impacts of declining sea ice on Arctic predator-prey dynamics Read More »