The tree that goes by toromiro has been a fragile expat for more than a half-century. Little Sophora toromiro, is far from home, no longer present on Rapa Nui, the Pacific island where it evolved. Also known as Easter Island, or Isla de Pascua in Spanish, Rapa Nui is a speck of land in the… Continue reading How Rapa Nui Lost a Tree, Only to Have It Sprout Up Elsewhere | Science
Tag: Science
Benedict Wong and Liam Cunnigham Are the Cool Agents Who Counterbalance the Science of 3 Body Problem
Warning: This article contains spoilers for 3 Body Problem, now streaming on Netflix. It’s the rare mystery/thriller series that frontfaces a large ensemble of scientists as the heroes of the story. Yet that’s the core conceit of 3 Body Problem — Netflix’s big-budget adaptation of Liu Cixin’s book The Three-Body Problem — which frames scientists… Continue reading Benedict Wong and Liam Cunnigham Are the Cool Agents Who Counterbalance the Science of 3 Body Problem
Citizen Scientists Document a Recovering Colorado River | Science
Margaret Osborne Daily Correspondent Sitting around a fire at a campsite along the Colorado River in Utah, boater Mike DeHoff flips through old photos of the area. Scientists from the United States Geological Survey circle around him and peer interestedly over his shoulder. He points to an old picture of the North Wash boat ramp,… Continue reading Citizen Scientists Document a Recovering Colorado River | Science
Can Animals Evolve Fast Enough to Keep Up With Climate Change? | Science
For species that reproduce sexually, every offspring is a gamble. Each has slightly different genes, giving it the potential to be carrying helpful, adaptive traits. Avalon.red / Alamy Stock Photo This article is from Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com. The world… Continue reading Can Animals Evolve Fast Enough to Keep Up With Climate Change? | Science
This Planned NASA Telescope May Help Us Identify Worlds Like Our Own | Science
An artist’s rendering of a pantheon of planets similar to Earth NASA / Ames / JPL-Caltech Though the James Webb Space Telescope launched only two years ago, NASA already has its eyes on its next flagship space-based telescope, known as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). While the new instrument is still in the planning stages… Continue reading This Planned NASA Telescope May Help Us Identify Worlds Like Our Own | Science
These Parrots Use Their Beaks to Swing Across Branches Like Monkeys | Science
A rosy-faced lovebird Todd L. Green Much like monkeys swinging from branch to branch, some parrots can swing through the trees with the greatest of ease, scientists have learned. But these colorful birds grip the branches with an unusual appendage: their beaks. Rosy-faced lovebirds can use their adaptable beaks as a third limb that supports… Continue reading These Parrots Use Their Beaks to Swing Across Branches Like Monkeys | Science
How Shade Coffee Aids Conservation | Science
Farmers have shown a renewed interest in planting coffee in the shade of other plants. The resulting farms are visited by a multitude of creatures from ants to birds to bats. Adapted From Eadweard Muybridge / Public Domain Up in the highlands of the Ethiopian plateau grows a tree with bright red fruit that came… Continue reading How Shade Coffee Aids Conservation | Science
Celebrate Winter in the Wild With 15 Photos of Animals Enjoying the Snow | Science
Text by Tracy Scott Forson Photographs selected by Quentin Nardi We humans may prefer to spend our winters indoors where it’s warm, away from the harsh, frigid elements, but these bears, bunnies, birds and more seem to enjoy being out in the snow. A few inches of frosty flakes don’t send them scampering for cover.… Continue reading Celebrate Winter in the Wild With 15 Photos of Animals Enjoying the Snow | Science
Fifty Years After ‘Jaws,’ We’ve Learned a Lot About Great Whites | Science
A great white shark cruises through Atlantic waters. Reinhard Dirscherl / ullstein bild via Getty Images Long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth between 66 million and 245 million years ago, sharks patrolled the ocean. For more than 400 million years, sharks have lived through multiple mass extinctions in habitats ranging from tropical coral reefs to… Continue reading Fifty Years After ‘Jaws,’ We’ve Learned a Lot About Great Whites | Science
Six Big Ways Climate Change Could Impact the United States by 2100 | Science
Climate change will not just affect our future—we’re seeing damage from it now. Extreme forest fires, warmer temperatures and prolonged droughts are just some of the ways climate change has impacted the United States. Scientists agree that burning fossil fuels is the main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. Emissions like carbon… Continue reading Six Big Ways Climate Change Could Impact the United States by 2100 | Science