5,516 results
5,516 results for: Forests
- Anthropology
Not So Clear-Cut: Soil erosion may not have led to Mayan downfall
Hand-planted maize, beans, and squash sustained the Mayans for millennia, until their culture collapsed about 1,100 years ago. Some researchers have suggested that the Mayans’ very success in turning forests into farmland led to soil erosion that made farming increasingly difficult and eventually caused their downfall. But a new study of ancient lake sediments has […]
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- Ecosystems
Tracing Tahitian vanilla
The discovery of Tahitian vanilla’s heritage could set off a custody battle between nations.
- Computing
Computing Evolution
Scientists sift through genetic data sets to better map twisting branches in the tree of life.
- Humans
Elephants’ struggle with poaching lingers on
Even as African elephants struggle to recover from decades-old poaching, the animals face new and renewed threats today.
- Animals
Wild innovation
Researchers have published a rare description of a wild chimpanzee devising and modifying a novel form of tool use.
- Health & Medicine
Itch
When it comes to sensory information detected by the body, pain is king, and itch is the court jester. But that insistent, tingly feeling—satisfied only by a scratch—is anything but funny to the millions of people who suffer from it chronically.
- Climate
EPA asks: Could you drive less?
Gas prices may need to climb more before most of us do the right thing.
- Ecosystems
Bring in the replacements
Missing links in ecosystems disrupted by extinctions could be restored by introducing species that perform the same function, new field experiments suggest.
- Math
The Power of Being Influenced
Network theory shows that the best way to spread ideas is to focus on people who are influenced rather than the influential.
- Paleontology
China was an ancient-ape paradise
Fossil dig uncovers the oldest known remains of ancestral gibbons
- Humans
An earlier thaw can trim winter logging
In New Hampshire, the trend toward earlier spring thaws has significantly lowered logging revenues.
