Book Review: Never Home Alone
Never Home Alone is a 256 page deep dive into the mind of a chatty biologist. Every chapter focuses on a distinct use-case for biodiversity preservation.
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Cultural Heritage and Citizen Science
Citizen science for your ears The latest episode of Citizen Science, the podcast from SciStarter, is the first of two episodes about how regular people help cultural heritage institutions like archives, libraries, and museums do scientific research, like uploading photographs to iNaturalist or eBird, or volunteering with a local water organization to monitor stream and river quality. Co-host Justin Schell shares how natural history museums and libraries encourage everyday people to take part in local, national, and global science projects. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County In the…
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Decolonizing Ecology for Socially Just Science
Opinion By Suzanne Xianran Ou (@suzanneou) and Adriana L. Romero-Olivares (@fungi_lover) Science attempts to describe nature at all scales, including globally. But scientists and the institutional structures and gatekeepers, such as governments, universities, and science journal editors, who determine what is considered “good science” in our modern world, represent countries with great economic power, collectively known as the Global North. To move forward with a broad perspective and as a globally connected scientific community, we must be inclusive of all scientists around the world, including those from countries with less…
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Exploring the Science of Mountain Biodiversity
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…
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Globalization and Its Environmental Impact
Globalization has many negative impacts on the environment. Corporations that benefit from globalization most must work toward sustainability.
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When Aquatic Invasive Species Take Over
What is an aquatic invasive species? It is non-native species that has been introduced into an area, and it is a big problem. By Natasha Parkinson @schrodicatsci The weather is hot, and everyone is trying to cool off any way they can. Everyone with a boat is out on the water, tubing, waterskiing, fishing, or cruising around. Anyone that has been around boats knows about boat safety: wear a life jacket, and don’t operate watercraft under the influence. But one aspect that is less discussed is preventing the spread of…
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Fire Management in California’s Chaparral Harms Birds
A fire management practice known as mastication, or mechanically crushing vegetation to prevent forest fires, threatens bird communities.
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Shelf Life Video: Into the Island of Bats
Learn about the bats that live in Cuba with two researchers who are studying bats and biodiversity in this Caribbean nation
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Robust Rice Varieties Cut Costs and Pollution
By Neha Jain @lifesciexplore Climate change coupled with our growing population is putting tremendous pressure on world food production, especially in developing countries. We need crops that use resources more efficiently. Scientists from China and Canada have identified “superstar” rice varieties that can reduce pollution and also save money spent by farmers on nitrogen fertilizers. “Anything we can do to reduce demand for nitrogen, both environmentally and for farmers in the developing world struggling to pay for it, is a significant contribution,” says Herbert Kronzucker, distinguished professor at the University…
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Pharmaceutical Waste Damages Aquatic Ecosystems
Pharmaceutical waste tends to wind up in our streams and rivers. It wreaks havoc on aquatic ecosystems and our drinking water.
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