Category: Science and Nature

  • Some picky Australian mosquitoes may target frog nostrils for blood

    An Australian mosquito species knows the best spot to drink its bloody meals: a frog’s nostril. The bloodsuckers are surprisingly selective when dining on frogs, seemingly picking no other place on the body to feast, researchers report November 21 in Ethology. Frogs’ sniffers may be an easy and productive place for the mosquitoes to pierce…

  • Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s annual speaker series begins Thursday. Here’s the schedule

    SLATINGTON, Pa. — As temperatures begin to drop across the Lehigh Valley and winter moves into the region, environmental officials are ready to draw residents out. “When winter’s here, people want stuff to do – they want to get out of the house,” said Riley Davenport, education and outreach coordinator for Lehigh Gap Nature Center.…

  • Unearthing Soil Solutions for Arsenic Remediation

    “The United Nations recently published a somewhat bleak report on worldwide soil contamination. A major challenge is reclaiming land and protecting human health from toxic exposures,” said Owen Duckworth, North Carolina State University professor of biogeochemistry. Soil pollution may seem limited to headline-grabbing spills, but many pollutants result from mining, industrial activities, waste disposal, and…

  • Unearthing Soil Solutions for Arsenic Remediation

    “The United Nations recently published a somewhat bleak report on worldwide soil contamination. A major challenge is reclaiming land and protecting human health from toxic exposures,” said Owen Duckworth, North Carolina State University professor of biogeochemistry. Soil pollution may seem limited to headline-grabbing spills, but many pollutants result from mining, industrial activities, waste disposal, and…

  • Discriminatory U.S. housing policies still affect bird sightings 90 years later

    Researchers have found far less data on bird sightings in neighborhoods impacted by discriminatory housing policies in the United States since the 1930s. Even with the rise of digital citizen science platforms like eBird in the last two decades, the information gap on bird species between wealthy and impoverished areas has gotten much worse. This…

  • The Surprise Reappearance of a Rare Frog Has Scientists Leaping to Protect Its Habitat

    By Danna Staaf The word “marsupial” typically evokes a kangaroo or perhaps a koala, something furry and warm-blooded that protects its babies in a pouch. But a surprising variety of creatures have evolved this unusual means of parental care, including crustaceans, seahorses—and frogs. With jaunty peaks sticking up from its eyelids that may help it…

  • The world’s most powerful lasers

    By Charlotte LyttonFeatures correspondent Marcin Szczepanski/Michigan Engineering Laser engineer Lauren Weinberg works on the Zeus laser system (Credit: Marcin Szczepanski/Michigan Engineering) They are the most intense lasers ever built, and their beams are helping scientists probe the fabric of the Universe. Inside a research lab at the University of Michigan, bright green light fills the…

  • The world’s most powerful lasers

    By Charlotte LyttonFeatures correspondent Marcin Szczepanski/Michigan Engineering Laser engineer Lauren Weinberg works on the Zeus laser system (Credit: Marcin Szczepanski/Michigan Engineering) They are the most intense lasers ever built, and their beams are helping scientists probe the fabric of the Universe. Inside a research lab at the University of Michigan, bright green light fills the…

  • Unlocking New Frontiers: AI and the Sciences

    In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, Stanford HAI’s fall conference “New Horizons in Generative AI: Science, Creativity, and Society” illuminated the profound impact of AI on scientific exploration. While generative AI for vision and language has garnered public attention, the conference delved deeper, spotlighting the diverse spectrum of generative AI research from its application in…

  • Unlocking New Frontiers: AI and the Sciences

    In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, Stanford HAI’s fall conference “New Horizons in Generative AI: Science, Creativity, and Society” illuminated the profound impact of AI on scientific exploration. While generative AI for vision and language has garnered public attention, the conference delved deeper, spotlighting the diverse spectrum of generative AI research from its application in…