While scientists have described over 350,000 plant species, as many as 100,000 plant species remain unknown. These undiscovered plants are the dark matter of botany, their identities and locations obscured to science. Yet, with extinction threatening an estimated 77% of undescribed plant species, the time to document them is running out. Identifying these species is […]
Plant diversity darkspots: Botany’s dark matter Read More »
Warm spring days are the best times to be outside, but they may involve the dreaded, surprising buzz of a bee’s wings close by. The tiny insects can be startling, causing people to recoil in fear and instinctively cover their ears. Many people share this unease toward these six-legged creatures that are 700,000 times smaller
Opinion: The bees we can’t afford to lose Read More »
In 2023 alone, the United States experienced 56,580 wildfires, 90% of which originated from human actions such as cigarette use and campfires. Due to the rate at which wildfires occur, a great emphasis has been noted on the environmental and physical harm imposed on humans. Skin damage and cardiovascular diseases associated with wildfires have been
How wildfires are negatively impacting more than physical health Read More »
Those from Pennsylvania will probably recognize any mention of Three Mile Island, and older populations may even shudder at the name. These reactions, however, may look a little different — particularly to a more severe degree — if it is revealed that Three Mile Island could be restored to its prior output of energy generation.
Nuclear energy: Soon to be restored as a valuable clean energy source Read More »
“A hardline conservationist makes his way to the Pacific Northwest for the first time, and by the time he leaves, is thinking it might not be so bad of an idea to cut down a few of those trees after all.” A slightly disgruntled ferry operator and ex-logger living on Vancouver Island produced this semi-sarcastic
To log or not to log: A comprehensive review of the old-growth question Read More »
Dark, cold, and seemingly bottomless, the Mariana Trench is shrouded in mystery, being one of the least explored places on the planet. However, one of its secrets was finally revealed by identifying a rare whale species to be the source of an unusual sound coming from the trench called a “biotwang.” In 2014, autonomous underwater
Call from the deep Read More »
Often dismissed as slimy plants lurking beneath lakes and rivers, macrophytes may actually hold the key to the looming agricultural fertilizer crisis. Excess nutrients in water bodies, known as eutrophication, allow macrophytes to thrive. When aquatic plants die and eventually decompose, oxygen is consumed, creating anoxic conditions that can kill fish and other organisms. Eutrophication
Macrophytes: The next best solution to the fertilizer shortage? Read More »
Tidal flooding, extreme weather, climate migration: Rising sea levels have led to countless consequences that threaten people’s livelihoods. But beneath the alarm that headlines like “Oceanfront Home Collapses” incite, there is a slower, more insidious repercussion: coastal erosion. A new assessment by Climate Central predicts that 4.4 million acres of US citizens’ property will be
Utilizing voltage to slow coastal erosion Read More »
Along New York City’s East 14th Street looms the foreboding Climate Clock, an art installation with the mission of catalyzing environmental change. Standing four stories tall over Union Square, this spectacle features a massive digital clock ticking down to environmental catastrophe. The screen, which spans 80 feet wide and counts downward by seconds in orange-tinted
Time is running out on the New York climate clock Read More »