Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Animals
Scientists Say: Camouflage
Plants and animals alike hide in plain sight using this sneaky strategy.
- Environment
Pumping cold water into rivers could help fish chill out
Hundreds of salmon, trout and other fish sought shelter from summer heat in the human-made cool zones. These areas may help fish adapt to river warming.
- Animals
These jellyfish can learn without brains
No brain? No problem for Caribbean box jellyfish. Their simple nervous systems can still learn, a study suggests.
- Tech
Bits of trees can make and store energy for us to use
This cellulose and lignin, two major building blocks of trees, could lead to greener electronics.
- Tech
Bionic plants and electric algae may usher in a greener future
Some can aid the climate by removing pollutants. Others would just avoid dirtying the environment in the first place.
- Climate
Some tree leaves are finding it too hot for photosynthesis
Earth’s ongoing fever threatens to push entire forests toward this heat limit — and possible death.
- Plants
Young corn leaves can ‘smell’ danger
As they mature, these leaves lose their ability to detect threatening scents.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Fertilize
This word describes both a stage of sexual reproduction and the agricultural practice of adding nutrients to soil.
- Environment
This ecologist is looking at the Amazon’s past to save its future
Carolina Levis researches how local communities influence the Amazon. She’s interested in how Indigenous knowledge can help protect the rainforest.
- Animals
Invertebrates are pretty clever, but are they conscious?
Scientists are designing experiments to test whether these animals have self-aware experiences as we do.
- Animals
Some cockatoos craft drumsticks, then woo mates like a rockstar
To win over a gal, these flashy males craft and use their signature instruments in a musical display akin to a human rock concert.
- Tech
Meet robots on a mission to help birds
A new generation of bird-like robots is helping people better understand and protect the wild animals that inspired them.
