All Stories by Jude Coleman
- Earth
Recycled glass could help fend off coastal erosion
Sand made from recycled glass can be mixed with sediment to make a medium for plants to grow in. That can help with coastal restoration projects.
- Animals
Warm autumns could be a driver in monarch butterflies’ decline
In the lab, higher temperatures during fall migration led monarchs to break their reproductive pause, increasing their risk of death.
- Physics
Here’s how we might generate electricity from rain
Water drops produce electricity when dripped through a small tube. That power might be harnessed as renewable energy in rainy places.
- Life
How insects can help catch rhino poachers
A new study looks at which insects can be used as biological clocks to determine when a rhino was killed.
- Animals
These sea creatures can fuse their bodies
A species of comb jelly can fuse its body with another jelly after injury. Some of the pair’s body functions then synchronize.
- Archaeology
These Stone Age humans were more gatherer than hunter
Though not completely vegetarian, the Iberomaurusian hunter-gatherers from North Africa relied heavily on plants such as acorns, pistachios and oats.
- Environment
Heat waves cause more illness and death in U.S. cities with fewer trees
There are usually fewer trees in neighborhoods with higher populations of people of color. Planting trees could save hundreds of lives every year.
- Animals
Some mysteries remain about why dogs wag their tails
Wagging is a form of communication, with different wags meaning different things, but scientists know little about the behavior’s evolution in dogs.
- Materials Science
A fiber inspired by polar bears traps heat as well as down feathers do
Scientists took a cue from polar bear fur to turn an ultralight insulating material into knittable thread.
- Life
10 billion snow crabs have disappeared off the Alaskan coast. Here’s why
In the eastern Bering Sea, the snow crab population plummeted after a marine heat wave in 2018. The crabs may have starved, a new study finds.
- Earth
When discussing flora and fauna, don’t forget ‘funga’
Conservation efforts often overlook fungi. That can change by using “mycologically inclusive language,” researchers say.
- Life
Flowers pollinated by honeybees make lower-quality seeds
Honeybees are one of the most common pollinators. But their flower-visiting habits make it harder for some plants to produce good seeds.
