Photo credit: https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/should-you-take-that-mosquito-bite-personally/ Beginning in 2016, Dr. Gerardo Ulibarri, a researcher with the Laurentian University in Canada, began placing a special kind of mosquito trap around the town of Troncones, on the Pacific coast of Mexico’s Guerrero state. These traps, called ovillantas, have proven successful in dramatically reducing the population […]
Rural towns that need to incorporate climate science into city plans often lack the budgets to do so. Image: Shutterstock In September of 2015, President Obama chartered the creation of a committee dedicated to translating the findings of the periodic National Climate Assessment into to practical advice so that towns, […]
Yuba residents harvest manioc before the storm. Photo: Jordan Kraft In 1928, a Japanese farmer named Isamu Yuba emigrated to Brazil with his family as part of a large influx of agricultural workers. In need of hands on coffee plantations, Brazil had only recently opened its doors to Japanese immigration […]
Image: A Pf bacteriophage invades a mammalian cell. Credit: Dr.Paul L. Bollyky, et al. For the first time ever, a bacteria has been found to weaponize its own virus to attack humans. A common bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces a virus that makes the bacteria itself significantly more pathogenic. The virus […]
Man’s deadliest enemy. Photo: Joel Sartore, National Geographic After the floods, famines and forced migrations that global warming is predicted to bring about, the spread of mosquitoes may seem like adding insult to injury. Mosquitoes, however, remain our deadliest animal adversary, killing an estimated 100 million humans worldwide. But it […]
Sir Freddie. Photo credit: Walker family Potential fathers who truly struggle with their decision to start a family can now delay that decision by decades. Biologists in Sydney, Australia, recently thawed out sheep semen samples taken in 1968 and used it to impregnate Merino ewes. Out of 56 ewes inseminated, […]
Stormtropis musica. Photo credit: Carlos Perafan. The stormtroopers have arrived. Six new species of bald-legged spiders were discovered in Colombia, by Drs Carlos Perafan and Fernando Perez-Miles of the Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay and William Galvis of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Four of the species did not fit […]
An innovative new sperm sorting procedure offers the possibility of improved success rates for in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF is a costly procedure without guaranteed success. Women under 35 have only a 21.5 percent chance of a full-term live birth from a single round of IVF. At an average of […]
Image credit: Jordan Kraft Whether or not humans are growing increasingly distanced from nature is a perennially popular question in our technological age. Actually measuring changes in this supposed distance poses a thorny challenge. Past researchers have measured the proportion of “nature-related words” in song lyrics, without asking whether this […]
Itaipú Dam. Image credit: Escuela de Organización Industrial Hydropower – the energy generated from flowing water – is renewable and emits relatively low amounts of carbon dioxide. Many see the expansion of hydropower as a way to offset fossil fuel-derived energy. In keeping with its green nature, environmental regulations exist […]