Reading desert sands – Indigenous wildlife tracking skills underpin vast monitoring project

Sep 29, 2024 10:15 am UTC| Nature

As animals move across the desert, they leave tracks, diggings and droppings. For skilled trackers, reading these signs is like watching a movie. A story of who was there and what they were doing unfolds in front of...

Ancient DNA helped us uncover the Iberian lynx’s potential secret weapon against extinction

Sep 25, 2024 12:41 pm UTC| Nature

Many large mammals have lost genetic diversity, often thanks to the actions of people shrinking their populations. The implications can be severe because without genetic diversity, a population does not have a genetic...

Climate Change Series

How ice, trees, coral and sediments help us reconstruct 2.6 million years of climate history: an introduction to paleoclimatology

Sep 25, 2024 12:37 pm UTC| Nature

Todays climate change is man-made. The consensus in the climate science community is unequivocal, but in order to determine just how exceptional current climate change is, we have had to contextualise the present on a much...

Metal Supply & Demand Series

Humanity needs more rare earth elements. Extinct volcanoes could be a rich new source

Sep 25, 2024 12:30 pm UTC| Science Nature

Extinct volcanoes are hard to study we never see them erupt. Using a unique experimental technique, we were able to recreate a certain type of extinct volcano in a lab, learning more about the magma these volcanoes...

How a new map of the UK’s blue carbon habitats could change how oceans are protected

Sep 20, 2024 04:49 am UTC| Nature

The worlds oceans are home to different habitats that capture and store carbon known as blue carbon. These include habitats that are typically found along coastlines, such as salt marshes and seagrasses, as well as vast...

Invasive species are reshaping aquatic ecosystems, one lake at a time

Sep 19, 2024 10:26 am UTC| Nature

Freshwater ecosystems in Canada and around the world are under siege. Lakes, rivers, ponds and wetlands face many environmental threats, but one that is changing them most rapidly is the spread of invasive non-native...

The power of one: solitary carnivores outkill group hunters

Sep 19, 2024 01:24 am UTC| Nature

Earths majestic apex predators are some of the most prolific hunters in the world. But which ones kill the most? Our new research showed solitary hunters such as bears, tigers and Eurasian lynx have higher individual...