Move over, corn and soybeans: The next biofuel source could be giant sea kelp

Making biofuels from crops grown on land poses trade-offs between food and fuel. A new study looks offshore.

Jessica Dutton, Associate Director for Research, USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies / Adjunct Assistant Professor (Research), USC Environmental Studies Program, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences • conversation
April 1, 2021 • ~6 min

Risk versus reward on the high seas – skinny elephant seals trade safety for sustenance

By measuring how and when elephant seals sleep, researchers were able to figure out how elephant seals change their risk-taking behavior as they gain weight.

Jessica Kendall-Bar, PhD Candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz • conversation
March 17, 2021 • ~9 min

The Marshall Islands could be wiped out by climate change – and their colonial history limits their ability to save themselves

Climate change is a true existential threat for small island nations, but the US has done little to help the Marshall Islands, which it administered for decades.

Caroline E. Ferguson, PhD candidate in Environment and Resources, Stanford University • conversation
Dec. 11, 2020 • ~10 min

500 whales stranded in Tasmania – indigenous elders are best guides to understanding this tragedy

It's time to listen to warnings from the people of the Pacific.

Niki JP Alsford, Professor in Asia Pacific Studies, Director of the Asia Pacific Studies Institutes, University of Central Lancashire • conversation
Oct. 2, 2020 • ~5 min

Corals show intense El Niño swings during Industrial Age

Stronger El Niño events are part of a strange climate pattern that appears unique to the Industrial Age, according to coral records spanning millennia.

Ben Brumfield-Georgia Tech • futurity
Nov. 26, 2019 • ~6 min

Researchers find a simpler pattern of ocean warming

Researchers have discovered why the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific appeared to warm twice as much as the global average, while the Northwest Pacific cooled over several decades.

Leah Burrows • harvard
July 17, 2019 • ~8 min

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