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Spring 2012
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Infectious Imports
Illegal wildlife trade could spread disease
Safe-Deposit Box
Travels to the seed vault on top of the world
Mini Livestock
Could giant farm-raised rats shrink the bushmeat trade?
Hungry for Land
When the super-wealthy scoop up huge plots of land worldwide, what’s left behind?
Acid Trip
Rising carbon dioxide levels are messing with fish minds
When Enough Is Enough
In developed countries, people are consuming less. Could we be reaching “peak stuff”?
Where Did All That Oil Go?
Bacterial blooms gorged on oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill
May 29, 2012
Conservation on the Cheap
Forest owners volunteer to protect birds for free
Want help conserving a species? Just ask. According to a study in Animal Conservation, a forestry center in Finland has convinced forest owners to voluntarily protect bird nests on their land — without offering any money or other incentives in return.
Funding for conservation is tight, and managers are searching for ways to protect […] Read More »
May 28, 2012
Hot Cargo
Radioactive material from Fukushima found in bluefin tuna near California
Researchers say they have “unequivocal evidence” that bluefin tuna carried radioactive material all the way from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan to the coast of California.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi plants failed after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, releasing radioactive cesium into the ocean. The team wondered whether Pacific bluefin […] Read More »
May 27, 2012
Flawed Logic
Scientific literacy doesn't make people worry more about climate change
The idea seems intuitive: If people just had a better grasp of science, they would agree that climate change poses a serious risk to society. But that assumption doesn’t hold up, researchers have reported in Nature Climate Change. Instead of making people more concerned about the issue, scientific literacy makes them more polarized.
The […] Read More »
May 24, 2012
On the Move
Climate change helps butterfly spread north
The bright orange spots and fringed wings of the brown argus butterfly have become a more common sight in Great Britain. Global warming has enabled this insect to use more types of plants as its host, allowing the species to flit northward by nearly 80 kilometers over the last two decades.
Species can respond to […] Read More »
May 23, 2012
Fish Forensics
Scientists devise precise DNA test to trace seafood's origin
A highly accurate genetic testing method could help pinpoint illegal and mislabelled fish, a team has reported in Nature Communications.
About 20 percent of fish caught around the world fall into the category of illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing. Some agencies have demanded that the fish’s origin be stated on a catch certificate, […] Read More »
May 22, 2012
Party Animals
Wild pigs' unruly behavior helps exotic plants invade tropical forest
Wild pigs aren’t exactly delicate eaters. They root through leaf litter for fruit and bugs, stir up the soil with their snouts and hooves, and generally make a big mess. Now researchers have found that these disorderly habits may have encouraged invasive plants to move into a tropical forest.
The team studied the Pasoh […] Read More »
