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
by Stephanie M. Halmo When and where the world's first domesticated species of dogs originated is a hotly debated topic by geneticists. A recent study places the origin of human's best friend in Central Asia or modern day Mongolia and Nepal. These results, published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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
This is the first of a three-part series on common questions about climate change: This first article will address the question of whether the climate really changing. Subsequent articles will look more closely at human's role in climate change and the effects can we expect from climate change. It's no secret that there's a crisis
by Stephanie M. Halmo Announced on Wednesday, October 7th, the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich, and Aziz Sancar for their studies on DNA self-repair. These scientists each discovered a different mechanism by which DNA—usually thought of as a stable molecule—can be repaired. These scientists each discovered a different
By Anna Lau, PhD In 2011, academic institutions in the US awarded a total of 49,010 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees, including 28,149 PhDs in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering combined. Notably, the majority of PhDs in Life Sciences were awarded specifically in Biological/Biomedical Sciences (71%) [see footnote a], making this the most common
They smell, they're muddy and hard to cross, and let's be honest, they just don't have the charm of a nice sandy beach. Wetlands certainly do not rank very high in the aesthetics category, but the value of an ecosystem cannot be measured in beauty alone. For one thing, many ecosystems offer what are called
Water availability has come up in recent news cycles as we face record droughts in the American west, depletion of aquifers in the Great Plains, and increasing flooding across the US due to climate change. When we face these issues, we turn to either technology to find a solution, or our mobility to remove or
