by Uma Nagendra It's a big move, turning on the heater. I can ignore the chilly mornings and shrinking daylight for a while, but once the heater is on, I'm no longer in denial that winter is just a calendar page away. For people and creatures alike, winter is a notoriously harsh season. Everyone has
The widespread belief that “humans evolved from apes†is misleading, but almost correct. An extensive study of fossils over the last 50 years has found that humans and apes had a common ancestor and the two lineages split apart about 3 to 13 million years ago. Australopithecus afarensis is believed to be the first
Water holds the key to sustainable development. We need it for health, food security, and economic progress. Yet, each year brings new pressures. — Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, 2013 The distribution and availability of water are defining features of life. As populations increase and global temperatures rise due to human-induced climate change, we will see
The rate of insomnia in the U.S. is climbing, and with it, so too are a host of health problems blamed on inadequate sleep. Getting our eight or more hours per night has become a common concern and has encouraged a growing industry of sleep aids, such as pills, light blocking curtains, and glasses built
Which Species Should We Save? Situated near the center of Jekyll Island is one of Georgia's most well-known and celebrated conservation programs, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC). Since opening in 2007, the GSTC has taken in over 300 injured sea turtles as patients and, impressively, most of them have been released back into the
We cannot talk about streams without first discussing a very important concept: the watershed [1]. A watershed, or drainage basin, is an area between ridges where precipitation collects in creeks and streams, eventually coalescing to form rivers. The way precipitation moves across land is analogous to the way water from a faucet pools in the
Farmers today face a number of challenges, old and new. Global climate change is exacerbating harsh growing conditions, invasive species are devastating crops, and consumer demands are shifting toward sustainable farming practices. Farmers also have to balance the increasing cost of fertilizers and pesticides with a need for high crop yield. An estimated 877 million
Anyone that has seen Alfred Hitchcock's “The Birds†should have a healthy fear of crows. Even to someone who has never enjoyed the glorious spectacle of crows pecking people's eyes out in black and white, crows are unsettling. They are a large menacing black bird with a blood-curdling caw; add the fact that a group
Pretend for a moment you are a cockroach. Now, I don't want to go all Kafka on you, but bear with me. You are a beautiful species of cockroach in a tropical region of Africa, just living your daily life, out scrounging for some food when, all of the sudden, a bright turquoise wasp stings
Let's start with the beginning of the day. It's early in the morning – still dark outside – and the alarm goes off. If you're like the majority of American adults, the real motivation to get out of bed is the thought of that steaming cup of coffee. Or maybe your choice drink is a
Everyone loves a good superhero, and while the mythical abilities of our favorite crime-fighting defenders have captured imaginations for decades, our own humble planet has produced organisms that make the fictional feats of Iron Man or Captain America pale in comparison. In fact, one of the most impressive real-life superheros can be found right under
This is the second part of a three-part series on climate change. For information concerning whether or not the climate is changing, see part one. Part three will deal with the consequences we face from climate change. We can agree that the global climate is actually warming, so who or what do we have to blame
