MS-LS2-5
Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
- Plants
Silk-based microneedles may help treat diseased plants
Engineers have invented silk microneedles to inject medicines into plants. One day farmers might use drones to dart their sick plants with meds from the air.
- Environment
Greener than burial? Turning human bodies into worm food
Composting human bodies yielded good results — and good soil — in one small study. It could become an alternative to burial or cremation in one state.
- Animals
Conservation is going to the dogs
Scientists are now training dogs to help track rare, elusive — and sometimes invasive — plants and animals.
- Health & Medicine
Immune arms-race in bats may make their viruses deadly to people
An overactive immune system may help bats avoid being sickened by many viruses. This may viruses becoming stronger — and deadlier — when they hit other species.
- Animals
Drones might one day capture a dolphin’s breath in midair
High-speed footage of dolphin spray reveals that droplets blast upward at speeds close to 100 kilometers per hour.
- Earth
Help for a world drowning in microplastics
Microplastic pollution in our oceans and lakes is a problem. Scientists are testing solutions — from more biodegradable recipes to nanotechnology.
- Oceans
Healthy coral reef sounds attract fish searching for a home
Playing the sounds of a healthy reef can help attract fish to dying corals, helping rebuild their community.
- Environment
Australian fires have imperiled up to 100 species
As massive wildfires consume huge swaths of Australia’s bush, untold species — many of them found nowhere else — are now threatened with extinction.
- Microbes
Drug-resistant germs kill some 35,000 Americans each year
The new mortality rate may be way low, some experts say. Also troubling are two new germs that have emerged as big and urgent threats.
- Life
Explainer: Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
Prokaryotes tend to be small and simple, while eukaryotes have embraced a highly organized lifestyle. These divergent approaches to life have both proved very successful.
- Animals
Hunting hidden salamanders with eDNA
The Japanese clouded salamander is an elusive beast. To find a new population, three teens turned to high-tech methods.
- Environment
‘Boot camp’ teaches rare animals how to go wild
Animals raised in captivity cannot safely re-enter the wilds without first understanding how to find food and avoid becoming a predator’s lunch. Scientists are helping some species learn this.
