Today's shifting environmental conditions are creating an uncertain future for many top predators in marine ecosystems, but to protect the key habitat of a species, you first have to know where that habitat is and what threats might be affecting it. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications looks at where New Zealand's endangered Westland Petrel forages during its breeding season and shows that its range overlaps more with trawl fishing activity than conservationists realized.
A new study shows that sunlight transforms oil spills on the ocean surface more quickly and significantly than previously thought, limiting the effectiveness of chemical dispersants that break up floating oil.
A research team funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found that sunlight chemically alters crude oil floating on the sea surface within days or hours.
Have you ever wondered why animals avoid dangers by sensing some "signs" possibly related to the danger? A simple form of this phenomenon is called "fear conditioning", which is a type of learning commonly seen in every animal on the earth. By manipulating activity of specific neurons of the zebrafish brain, scientists at the National Institute of Genetics (NIG) in Japan have elucidated a neuronal population essential for fear conditioning in zebrafish.
Deep-diving whales and other marine mammals can get the bends--the same painful and potentially life-threatening decompression sickness that strikes scuba divers who surface too quickly. A new study offers a hypothesis of how marine mammals generally avoid getting the bends and how they can succumb under stressful conditions.
How do you boost soil water content and soil health without irrigating? Best cover it with a layer of straw, a new study concludes.
Farmers in China's Loess Plateau have for decades used both plastic and straw as a soil cover, or mulch, between crops. Much of the region's agriculture, of which corn is a large part, is dryland; the crops depend solely on seasonal rainfall. Dry spells can hurt crop growth and yield. So the two mulches--both inexpensive and readily available--are used to stop water loss from evaporation and keep soil warm.
PITTSBURGH--Searches involving multiple websites can quickly get confusing, particularly when performed on a mobile device with a small screen. A new web browser developed at Carnegie Mellon University now brings order to complex searches in a way not possible with conventional tabbed browsing.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (April 25, 2018) - A daily dose of baking soda may help reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, scientists say.
They have some of the first evidence of how the cheap, over-the-counter antacid can encourage our spleen to promote instead an anti-inflammatory environment that could be therapeutic in the face of inflammatory disease, Medical College of Georgia scientists report in the Journal of Immunology.
WACO, Texas (April 24, 2018) - Do you consider yourself more ethical than your coworker?
Caution! Your feelings of ethical superiority can cause a chain reaction that is detrimental to you, your coworker and your organization, according to Baylor University management research.
Doctors at the University of Illinois Hospital have cured seven adult patients of sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder primarily affecting the black community, using stem cells from donors previously thought to be incompatible, thanks to a new transplant treatment protocol.
The doctors report on the new technique in the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
The human voice can produce rich and varied acoustic signals to transmit information. Normally, this transmission only has a reach of about 200 metres. The Boras, an indigenous group of about 1,500 members residing in small communities in the Amazonian rainforest of Colombia and Peru, can extend this range by a factor of 100 by emulating Bora phrases in sequences of drumbeats. The Boras do this with manguaré drums pairs of wooden slit drums traditionally carved from single logs (each about two metres) through burning. Each drum can produce two pitches, a pair four in total.