Scientists have provided a rather grim prognosis for global health: the recent increase in nutrient enrichment due to human activities, such as nitrogen pollution through fossil fuel combustion, is likely contributing to several varieties of infectious diseases in humans and wildlife.
Scientists from the University of Sydney are getting creative with their efforts to combat destructive cane toad populations in Australia and to protect native species from the pests. Cane toads were introduced to Australia in 1935. Cane toads, which were introduced to Australia in 1935 from Hawaii in an attempt to eradicate cane beetles, have caused a decline in other…
Today at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Diego, scientists participating in the Census of Marine Life (CoML) announced that the $650 million, 10-year collaboration will conclude on October 4-6, 2010 in London. More than 2,000 scientists from 80 countries have been collecting data on the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life worldwide….
The coconut tree’s large seed is better adapted to drought and shade than smaller seeds. It is generally believed that, when competing for the same resources, large plant seeds beat out small seeds regardless of the growing conditions. But according to researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, large seeds actually have the advantage in stressful conditions—such as during a…
After landing outside a small town in Australia more than 40 years ago, scientists now have identified 14,000 different compounds in the Murchison meteorite—a meteorite in the carbonaceous chondrites family that is thought to predate the Sun and can offer insight into the Solar System’s early conditions. Murchison meteorite Photo Credit: NASA The results, published in the current issue of…
A seagull follows a crab boat and awaits leftovers. Scientists have tracked large scale changes in bird movement patterns due to fishing operations. Scientists have tracked the movement patterns of seabirds off the coast of Spain and found they are directly tied to the schedule of fishing boats. Specifically, when the fishing boats are working during the week, the birds…
According to researchers at the University of Maryland, Egyptian fruit bats, unlike their American relative the big brown bat, locate objects through a series of tongue clicks directed to either side of their target. Big brown bats locate their fast moving prey—such as mosquitos—by firing sounds from their vocal cords directly at their target. Egyptian bats, on the other hand,…
This post contributed by Nadine Lymn, ESA Director of Public Affairs  Personality traits that lead an individual to want to avoid crowds could actually be playing a role in biological invasions, says a recent study that appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences.  Julien Cote and colleagues at the University of California at Davis looked at…
This post contributed by Nadine Lymn, ESA Director of Public Affairs  Another example of the ingenuity of nature: researchers are finding inspiration in the extraordinarily strong exoskeleton of a deep-sea snail, Crysomallon squamiferum. The mollusk’s iron-plated shell is giving researchers insights that could lead to stronger materials for airplane hulls, cars, and military equipment. Researchers at the National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported…
According to a study published last month in the Archives of Ophthalmology, nearsightedness, called myopia, has increased in the U.S. by 66% since the early 1970s. And the intensity of the disorder has also increased—that is, the prevalence of people with moderate cases of myopia has nearly doubled since the 70s. Susan Vitale, an epidemiologist at the National Eye Institute…
In a recent Nature Geoscience study, scientists discovered that soil clings to water from the first rainfall of the summer and holds it so tightly it almost never mixes with other water. This discovery challenges the century-old assumption that rainwater, after it enters the soil through precipitation, displaces leftover water and pushes it deeper into the ground and eventually into…
Two timely reports have surfaced this week regarding the decline of honeybee populations in Europe, and France has taken action in an attempt to curb the falling numbers. A recent study linked honeybee health and plant biodiversity In a study published in the Journal of Apicultural Research, scientists have found that managed honeybee populations across Europe have dropped an average…