Museum specimens could help fight the next pandemic – why preserving collections is crucial to future scientific discoveries
Specimen preservation means researchers don't need to reinvent the wheel each time they ask a new question, making it critical for the advancement of science. But many specimens are discarded or lost.
Dec. 16, 2020 • ~11 min
biology museum-collections specimens reproducibility zoonotic-diseases zoonotic-viruses natural-history-collections museums natural-history
Plastic pipes are polluting drinking water systems after wildfires - it's a risk in urban fires, too
A new study shows how toxic chemicals like benzene are leaching into water systems after nearby fires. The pipes don't have to burn – they just have to heat up.
Dec. 14, 2020 • ~9 min
disaster water-pollution drinking-water natural-disasters wildfires environmental-health plumbing vocs
W.E.B. Du Bois embraced science to fight racism as editor of NAACP's magazine The Crisis
As editor of the magazine for 24 years, Du Bois featured articles about biology, evolution, archaeology in Africa and more to refute the rampant scientific racism of the early 20th century.
Dec. 14, 2020 • ~8 min
charles-darwin racism natural-selection african-science eugenics naacp scientific-racism web-du-bois theory-of-evolution web-dubois
Paris Agreement: five years on, it's time to fix carbon trading
Done right, offsetting projects can benefit local people and make a measurable difference to carbon emissions.
Dec. 11, 2020 • ~7 min
climate-change paris-agreement natural-climate-solutions blue-carbon nationally-determined-contribution
Asteroid capsule landing point detected
A search is under way for a capsule carrying the first large quantities of rock from an asteroid.
Dec. 5, 2020 • ~2 min
space australia space-exploration japan asteroids hayabusa-2 university-of-glasgow natural-history-museum university-of-manchester
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was a record-breaker, and it's raising more concerns about climate change
There were so many tropical storms in 2020, forecasters exhausted the list of names and started using Greek letters. And that's only one reason 2020 was extreme.
Nov. 30, 2020 • ~8 min
climate-change hurricanes global-warming sea-surface-temperatures natural-disasters temperature wind enviornment
Why COVID-19 has left the UK especially vulnerable to flooding this winter
La Niña means we are forecast a wet winter – and people are struggling and ill-prepared.
Nov. 30, 2020 • ~7 min
flooding floods natural-disasters la-nina
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was a record-smasher – and it's raising more concerns about climate change
There were so many tropical storms in 2020, forecasters exhausted the list of names and started using Greek letters. And that's only one reason 2020 was extreme.
Nov. 30, 2020 • ~8 min
climate-change hurricanes global-warming sea-surface-temperatures natural-disasters temperature wind enviornment
Reconstructing vertebrates rise from the water to land
Harvard scientists reconstruct evolution of limb-based motion in early tetrapods.
Nov. 25, 2020 • ~6 min
science-technology faculty-of-arts-and-sciences fas nature stephanie-pierce graduate-school-of-arts-and-sciences gsas juan-siliezar department-of-organismic-and-evolutionary-biology blake-dickson humerus tetrapod-evolution water-to-land
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