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Spring 2012

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Technology+Design

How to Build a Living Seawall

Simple fixes bring marine life back to urban coastlines

Culture+Health

Infectious Imports

Illegal wildlife trade could spread disease

Climate Change

Safe-Deposit Box

Travels to the seed vault on top of the world

Culture+Health

Mini Livestock

Could giant farm-raised rats shrink the bushmeat trade?

Business+Economics

Hungry for Land

When the super-wealthy scoop up huge plots of land worldwide, what’s left behind?

Oceans

Acid Trip

Rising carbon dioxide levels are messing with fish minds

Culture+Health

When Enough Is Enough

In developed countries, people are consuming less. Could we be reaching “peak stuff”?

Oceans

Where Did All That Oil Go?

Bacterial blooms gorged on oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill

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Conservation on the Cheap
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 »

Hot Cargo
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 »

Flawed Logic
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 »

On the Move
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 »

Fish Forensics
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 »

Party Animals
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 »

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