Science Connected Magazine -

Curing “Plant Blindness” with Botanical Gardens and Farms

July 11, 2019July 9, 2019 Science Connectedagriculture, botanical garden, conservation, farms, gardens, plant blindness, plants

By Neha Jain (@lifesciexplore) What was the last plant you saw? Have you ever seen a grain of wheat? How many varieties of rice are there? Although many of us desire a green environment, more and more people, especially urban dwellers, are becoming oblivious to the plants around them—so much so that just over two decades ago, researchers even coined a term for this phenomenon: “plant blindness.” Much of the food we eat today is the result of thousands of years of plant cultivation and breeding by our ancestors. As…

Ecology Geology

Exploring the Science of Mountain Biodiversity

July 4, 2019June 24, 2019 Science Connectedbiodiversity, biota, ecology, ecosystems, environmental heterogeneity, mountains, species richness, topography

By Jacqueline Mattos (@mattosjacq) Mountain systems are hotspots of biodiversity, which means that they host many different species of many taxonomic groups in condensed spatial scales. Much has been studied about mountains and their diversity, but the biological and geological processes that maintain their great number of species remain elusive. In a recent review in Nature Geoscience, Alexandre Antonelli and colleagues have accounted for many different aspects of mountains and their diversity, trying to fill in the many gaps in this field of study by quantifying the relative importance of…

Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog Environment Health

You Can Help Beat Extreme Heat in Cities

July 2, 2019July 2, 2019 Science Connectedcities, climate, cooling, heat, heat island, urban climate, urban heat

Imagine a smoldering hot day in downtown Boston: temperatures have reached over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and the sidewalks and streets are absorbing the strong heat from the sun and radiating it back into the air. Days like this are becoming hotter and more frequent. This “silent storm” causes more deaths in the US than all other weather hazards combined. Heat impacts human health, infrastructure, and the environment. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) Effect Urban areas trap heat inside of them, experiencing hotter temperatures than in surrounding suburban areas. Cities are…

Biology Biota Project Chemistry Environment

Learning Where Water Comes From, With Isotopes

July 1, 2019July 1, 2019 Science Connectedcitizen science, hydrogen, hydrology, isotopes, oxygen, water

by Nicholas Dove and Alyssa Abbey Did you ever wonder where your water is coming from? For many of us, drinking a glass of water is as easy as turning on the tap. But, the journey of water from a single raindrop to your drinking glass starts long before then. Water can actually travel hundreds of miles or take hundreds of years before it finally reaches you. During this hot summer month of July, The Biota Project is exploring the origins of one of Earth’s most precious resources: water. We…

Citizen Science Environment Health Science Policy

Environmental Health Is a Social Justice Issue

June 27, 2019July 1, 2019 Science Connectedclean water, community health, waste management, water management

By Shayna Keyles (@shaynakeyles) When we talk about recycling, mitigating climate change, protecting habitats, and more, it’s not only for some abstract mission of “saving the earth,” though that would be good, too. These are environmental justice issues; they are part of the struggle for basic human rights. Environmental justice in the US In the United States, the environmental justice movement grew out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Communities of Black, Latinx, Native American, low-income, and immigrant groups found that they were disproportionately affected by…

Biology Citizen Science Connected Blog Oceanography

Ocean Conservation and Citizen Science at the Long Beach Scuba Show

June 24, 2019June 24, 2019 Science Connectedcoral reefs, ocean, ocean conservation, ocean sanctuaries, oceans, reef check, reefs, sharks

by Kristin Butler Each year, the Long Beach Scuba Show brings together divers from around the world for seminars and exhibits on all things scuba, with topics ranging from dive gear to scuba vacations. Though the show mostly showcases the business side of diving, visitors can also learn about nonprofits that use diving to fight cancer, promote ocean conservation, and collect citizen science data. Two of the nonprofits that attended this year’s show in May developed and currently run citizen science projects I wrote about in 2017: Reef Check and…

Biology Botany

This Bug’s Bacteria Helps Rice Plants Boost Immunity

June 20, 2019June 18, 2019 Science Connectedmicrobes

By Radhika Desikan Rice is the most widely consumed staple cereal crop for about half of the world’s human population, but its cultivation comes with inherent challenges, such as crop attacks by herbivorous pests. Brown planthopper (BPH) is an insect pest which feeds on rice plants and causes extensive damage to crops. However, there are some rice varieties that are resistant to BPH; increasing research in this area is aimed at understanding the mechanisms of this resistance. Moreover, although there are about 800 insect herbivores that feed on rice, the…

Citizen Science Citizen Science Connected Blog

Help Audubon Protect Threatened Birds

June 14, 2019June 14, 2019 Science Connectedbirding, citizen science, climate change, climate watch, threatened birds, threatened species

Audubon’s Climate Watch Program needs volunteers to help it spot 12 birds threatened by climate change. Are you in? “Hope is the thing with feathers/ That perches in the soul,” Emily Dickinson wrote. Is there hope for our feathered friends in the era of climate change? Yes, but they need our help. More than 300 North American birds will likely lose over 50 percent of their current geographical range by 2080, according to Audubon’s 2014 Birds and Climate Change Report. This means that the areas with the climate conditions these…

Education

Reintroducing Science Connected Magazine

June 13, 2019June 13, 2019 Science Connectedannouncement, partner content, science connected, what we do, write with us

GotScience has always been part of the nonprofit organization Science Connected, and it’s time to fully bring the two projects together. Beginning July 1, GotScience Magazine will become Science Connected Magazine! Our mission at Science Connected has always been to produce honest, engaging, and available science communication and literature about science for educators and lifelong learners, written by scientists and science communicators. We do this by creating a collaborative space for researchers, citizen scientists, educators, and science communicators to write about scientific projects that will change our world. And because…

Biology Citizen Science Connected Blog Oceanography

Why Citizen Scientists Study Phytoplankton in Antarctica

June 10, 2019June 9, 2019 Science Connectedantarctica, citizen science, climate change, glaciers, krill, penguins, phytoplankton

By Allison Cusick and Verena Meraldi Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography are working with Antarctic tour operators like Hurtigurten to enable vacationers to serve as citizen scientists with the FjordPhyto citizen science project. Travelers collect samples of phytoplankton from Antarctic fjords in an effort to understand the base of the food web, helping scientists learn how one of the most fertile ocean regions in the world may be changing. Human Impact in Remote Areas You would think that the most remote continent on Earth, Antarctica, would be the least…