Science

There is much more to avian biodiversity in the United States than the number of different species living in a region or community, but birds’ ecosystem contributions — assessed through measures of their diet, body structure and foraging methods — are much tougher to study. With hundreds of species migrating south for the winter and … Read more

A wildfire can pump smoke up into the stratosphere, where the particles drift for over a year. A new Massachusetts Institute of Technology study has found that while suspended these particles can trigger chemical reactions that erode the protective ozone layer shielding the Earth from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet radiation. The study, published in Nature, … Read more

Picture a school of fish swimming in unison or the synchronized flashing of fireflies — examples of collective behavior in nature. When similar collective behavior happens in the quantum world, it leads to processes such as superconductivity, superfluidity and superfluorescence. In all these processes, a group of quantum particles forms a coherent system that acts … Read more

Sea-level rise this century may disproportionately affect certain Asian megacities as well as western tropical Pacific islands and the western Indian Ocean, according to new research that looks at the effects of natural sea-level fluctuations on the projected rise due to climate change. The study, co-authored by a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric … Read more

Climate change isn’t the only threat facing California’s birds. Over the course of the 20th century, urban sprawl and agricultural development have dramatically changed the landscape of the state, forcing many native species to adapt to new and unfamiliar habitats. In a U.S. National Science Foundation-supported study, biologists at the University of California, Berkeley, used … Read more

People have inhabited the Andes mountains of South America for more than 9,000 years, adapting to the scarce oxygen available at high altitudes, along with cold temperatures and intense ultraviolet radiation. A new genomic study published in the journal iScience suggests that indigenous populations in present-day Ecuador also adapted to the tuberculosis bacterium, thousands of … Read more

Even in their dark isolation from the atmosphere above, caves can hold a rich archive of local climate conditions and how they’ve shifted over the eons. Formed over tens of thousands of years, speleothems — rock formations unique to caves better known as stalagmites and stalactites — hold secrets to the ancient environments in which … Read more

“Forever chemicals” are everywhere — water, soil, crops, animals, the blood of 97% of Americans — and researchers at Drexel University are trying to figure out how they got there. Their U.S. National Science Foundation-supported findings suggest that the microbes that help break down biodegradable materials and other waste are likely complicit in the release … Read more

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a series of five reports authored by federal agencies, including the U.S. National Science Foundation, outlining bold research and development goals for the U.S. bioeconomy. The NSF-led report lays out the research and infrastructure investments needed to harness the potential of recent developments in biotechnology, much … Read more