ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE

Illegal Import May Be the Death of a Few Species, Including Humans—Coconut Crab in Hawaii

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE In a strange sequence of events, officials with Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture reported that an illegally transported Coconut Crab was found roaming down Honolulu’s Salt Lake Boulevard early this past weekend. And while the species may sound like a small an unassuming small beach crab, with claws strong enough to pierce through coconuts, the discovery of one on the island has researchers and department officials on edge from the possibilities of what may come.

Lava Flow Stalls 700 Yards away from Shopping Center

Officials at the Hawaii County Civil Defense expected to see the lava reach the Pahoa Shopping Center on or around Christmas. Fortunately, the flow seems to have come up short. According to the Associated Press, civil defense administrator Darryl Oliveira said on Tuesday that the lava appears to have stalled and hardened just 700 yards away from the island's biggest shopping center.

What Manganese and the Trade Winds Tell Researchers about the Coral Bleaching Epidemic of the Pacific

Researchers from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), tasked with monitoring the overall health of Pacific coral reefs are sounding an alarm of international proportions to notify the public and government agencies that the Pacific Ocean coral reefs are facing a massive die-off known commonly as “coral bleaching”. Publishing their recent study in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers are pointing towards warming oceans and dying trade winds for the massive coral bleaching soon to hit these coral reefs, and are naming global climate change as a contributing factor.

What the Winter Solstice Means - The Onset of Winter and The Darker Days Ahead

The Holiday Season is upon us; a time for presents, family, food. But it's also time for a celestial shift too. And while the onset of winter happened just this past weekend, many researchers are questioning why Winter's cold caught a grip of Earth early this year-at least in the northern hemisphere, that is.

A Holiday Filled With Chirps & Cheer—The Christmas Bird Count

When it comes time to the Christmas season, people innately begin counting the birds: four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and whole lot of other species. But if you’re an ornithologist, then the holiday season also marks an important time for bird-watching. Waking up before sunrise and catching a glimpse of the black-necked stilts or the white-tailed kites may be a part of your daily agenda, but when Dec. 14 rolls around you’re ready for day long adventures to camp out and count the local bird species in the skies.

Warblers Flee, As Warnings from Mother Nature Reveal Coming Storms

In the study of ecology, it’s long been known that animals have a sort of sixth sense above and beyond what humans can perceive. Perhaps through the aid of their keen senses of smell or their abnormally acute sense of hearing, animals such as dogs are able to sense the presence of cancers, the onset of seizures, and even changes in the climate. But in a new study led by UC Berkeley ecologist Henry Streby, it’s birds that are sensing a change. Golden-winged warblers to be exact.

Half the Size, But Twice the Bite—Study Reports European Wolves Are on the Rise

As carnivorous species in the United States, like the Mexican Gray Wolf, face dwindling populations and increased difficulties finding niche habitats, a new study reveals that carnivores in Europe are on the rise—and they are more than twice as abundant. The new study published this week in the journal Science reports that while Europe may be one of the most industrialized landscapes on the face of the Earth, that conservation efforts and restoration practices have led the continent to large-scale success in bringing back continental carnivore populations.

Plastic Pollution Causes ‘Tons’ of Problems as New Estimates Reveal Litter on the Rise

While the biochemistry of the world’s oceans may be a complex study, with a myriad of variants, researchers are certain of one simple fact—man-made plastics do not belong in the oceans. And the pollution of our oceans is far more vast than the world would like to admit. But in a new study recently published in this week’s issue of the journal PLOS ONE researchers are saying that the Earth’s oceans may contain more than 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic particulates, weighing nearly 270,000 tons combined which is far larger than previous studies ever estimated the pollution to be.

Genomic Study Reveals Pre-Cambrian Explosion of Bird Species, Who Faired Better than Gentle Dinosaurs

They’re far from the scaled reptilian giants that once walked the Earth, but for decades researchers have sought out an evolutionary connection between our winged bird species of today and the dinosaurs that once took flight in prehistoric times. For the past four years, a team of international researchers have fully developed The Avian Phylogenomics Project, in which they have sequenced genomes of nearly all species of the evolutionary branches including a majority of birds known to man. Now that the research is done, the mapping of 48 bird species genomes has evolved into more than two-dozen articles published in the journal Science, as well as a new understanding of how birds may link to their dinosaur ancestors.
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