Environment

From Agriculture to the Atom Bomb: Has Human Activity Forced Earth into a New Geologic Epoch?

For decades millions of visitors wound their way underneath the towering skeletons of Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops at Washington, D.C.'s Museum of Natural History. Now, the National Fossil Hall has closed as curators work on a revamped exhibition, tentatively titled â€œDeep Time,â€ set to open in 2019. Alongside the dinosaur skeletons that have long dominated

athenssciencecafe September 1, 2015

Smart hurricane protection is multifaceted: Wetlands, Levees, Building Codes, Evacuation, Rethinking linear canals.

Rooted against the wind and water: a Katrina-versary webcomic

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, illustrator, ecologist, and native Orleanian Uma Nagendra takes a look at what we’ve learned since Katrina about how wetlands mitigate the devastating impacts of hurricanes. Uma Nagendra is a native New Orleanian now living in Athens, GA. She has been interested in natural disturbances since Katrina, and

athenssciencecafe August 25, 2015

Putting a Price Tag on Nature

It is a Sunday morning. You are sitting on the front porch, sipping from a cup of coffee, and reading the day's paper. You hear a rustle, look up, and see your dog chasing a squirrel away from his nut-burying chores; you chuckle. Ah, the good life! While it may not be at the forefront

athenssciencecafe August 20, 2015

Best Friends for Life: The Remarkable and Delicate World of Symbiosis

There's always that one ultra clingy coupleâ€”you know the ones I'm talking about. The two members are practically attached at the hip, they refer to themselves as a single unit, and you honestly can't remember if you've ever seen them apart. Like two modern characters from a Shakespeare play, sometimes it seems like they would

athenssciencecafe August 4, 2015

Superstorms: Are Natural Disasters Becoming Stronger?

Hollywood has unleashed unrealistic natural disaster movies in the past. But how will climate change actually alter the nature of weather related disasters?

athenssciencecafe July 27, 2015

Poison ivy's chemical curse

by Uma Nagendra, Athens Science CafeÌ Ah, summer in the American South: the air is abuzz with cicadas, air conditioning, and aerosol bugspray. For many, it's a season equally beloved and reviled. Everyone seems to have their favorite griping point: the relentless humidity, the constant threat of mosquitoes, or my personal nemesisâ€”poison ivy. Although poison

athenssciencecafe June 29, 2015

Can science tell us what makes Stradivarius Top Notch?

by Alex Pilote, Athens Science CafÃ© When discussing string instruments, the name Stradivarius is synonymous with excellence and superior craftsmanship. But why is this? Are the violins bearing this name crafted with a more skilled hand? Do they outperform all others? Or perhaps there's a scientific explanation behind this? The question of the superior reputation

athenssciencecafe June 17, 2015

The Little Engineer That Could

by Suzie Henderson, Athens Science CafÃ© What is an ecosystem engineer? Every ecosystem, even arctic ice [2], is subject to the influence of ecosystem engineers [3]. An ecosystem engineer alters habitat and consequently changes resource availability to other organisms [2]. Even though all organisms play a role in resource cycling to varying degrees, not all

athenssciencecafe June 1, 2015

Spring Ephemerals in Your Backyard: A Webcomic

Written and Illustrated by Uma Nagendra Uma Nagendra is a PhD Candidate at the University of Georgia and became interested in studying natural disasters since Hurricane Katrina hit her hometown of New Orleans. She enjoys finding creative ways to demonstrate complicated ecological conceptsâ€”preferably if it involves running around outside or drawing pictures. When not crawling over downed

athenssciencecafe May 6, 2015

On thin ice: polar bear conservation in the midst of climate change

Everyone has seen it: a panning video showing thousands of miles of Arctic ice. This is usually followed by that same area now enveloped in water with the obligatory polar bear floating on a miniscule ice float. As polar bears rely heavily on sea ice as protective cover to hunt seals, their main food source,

John Spiekerman April 27, 2015

The War on Plastic

Plastic is probably the most important material in our lives today. We see it all around us and use it all the time. So much so that we throw away enough plastic waste each year to circle the planet four times. Why do we consume so much plastic? Sure, it makes our lives more comfortable,

athenssciencecafe March 23, 2015

Reading Between the Vines

If you read the first installment of our ScienceCafÃ© invasive species series, you may have already guessed the name of this topic: Pueraria lobata, orâ€¦ kudzu! Before kudzu arrived in the states and poison ivy was the only three-leaved vine, times were simpler. No one worried about kudzu invading their yard and killing their plants

athenssciencecafe March 11, 2015