ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE

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.

Plans from Peru—United Nations 196 Delegates Propose a Policy to Combat Climate Change

To say that 2014 was a year for change would be quite an understatement, but when it comes to climate change this year has perhaps been the most dynamic. From the UN Summit in New York held earlier this summer, to the nomination of a new Messenger of Peace (actor Leonardo DiCaprio), members of the United Nations (UN) have sought out an effective way to best approach the changing climate looming over future forecasts. This past Saturday, Dec. 13, these discussions came to a climax as negotiators from the world’s 196 countries who have been staying in Lima, Peru for the past two weeks haggled over the final elements to be implemented in a draft of a climate change deal that will potentially, for the first time in history, commit all nations in the world to limit emissions greatly impacting global warming.

Could Water Have Changed the Face of Mars, or Is the Habitability Question too Much to Bare?

While some parts of the nation are fighting Winter storms of snow and sleet, eyes this week are o water of the liquid variety. And more specifically, researchers and reporters are looking towards the molecule’s importance in developing life, as well as its origins story too. News this week of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta Mission, revealed a recently published study reporting that the sustenance of our Earth and of all life, water, may in fact have not originated on comets from the Kuiper Belt as once believed. And what’s more, now that researchers have debunked false origin stories of the miracle molecule, they’re now beginning to question whether water alone can make a planet habitable for life, or if there are other mitigating conditions as well.

Can A Peripheral Anomaly Cause Hummingbirds to Crash?

For decades now, man has modeled their methods of flight from the majestic bird species that have conquered the skies. But what if there’s a glitch in birds’ programming that remains hidden in the secrets of aviation?

More Seafloor Methane Released Into the Pacific Ocean

Increased Seafloor Methane Released Into the Pacific Ocean Water at intermediate depths is observed to be warming up as seafloor methane released into the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate, a recent study found.
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