Nature & Wildlife
Aliens are certainly in our midst, and invaders are running rampant across the planet. What I mean is, plants are spreading across the globe faster than ever, and the very same traits that make them thrive in their native lands also drive them to their successes abroad. Who are these aliens and invaders?
Nature & Wildlife
Today, it might sound hyperbolic to say to the majority of us who are living in urban surroundings that nature’s animals and plants are essential for human survival. But it’s truly not over the top. Nature acts as a crucial life-support system that provides us with breathable oxygen, clean water, food and medicines.
Nature & Wildlife
All organisms on Earth are traditionally placed into six kingdoms of life: Animalia (animals), Archaebacteria (bacteria often found in extreme environments, such as hot springs and hydrothermal vents), Eubacteria (true bacteria), Fungi (molds, mushrooms and yeasts), Protista (algae and amoebas) and Plantae (plants).
Nature & Wildlife
At the end of the year, many of our holiday celebrations revolve around food, such as a Thanksgiving feast or a Christmas dinner. This food-intensive season reminds me of a new concept in nature studies: “nature’s chefs.” In essence, nature’s chefs are organisms that provide food—or the illusion of food—to other organisms.
Conservation
Virtual reality (VR)—a technology that simulates a three-dimensional (3D) environment, allowing users to interact with a computer-generated world as if they were physically present—can create dynamic, immersive and personalized experiences.
Nature & Wildlife
Our world is a colorful place. Just think of the vivid blues, greens, oranges, reds and yellows of Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, the rainbow-hued mountains of Zhangye National Geopark in China or the shimmering green and purple bands of light in the aurora borealis above the tundra in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.
Conservation
Drawing on her life as an Indigenous scientist, author Robin Wall Kimmerer in her now iconic 2015 book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants intertwines the knowledge she gained during her Potawatomi upbringing with the education she later received as a scientist—specifically, a plant biologist.
Latin America
When I was a kid, my mom took our family to see Disney’s Pete’s Dragon, a musical fantasy film that featured a large green animated dragon named Elliott who had the ability to make himself invisible. I fell in love with Elliott’s expressive face, floppy ears and pink tuft of hair.
Nature & Wildlife
We’re living in an age of great biodiversity loss. And we’re trying to make our way through a worldwide pandemic on top of it. Some days, it seems like life itself on Earth is being wiped out. But there is great reason for hope.
Nature & Wildlife
Just exactly how many species are there in our big, diverse world? And where, precisely, do they live?
Nature & Wildlife
Tomorrow, March 3, we’ll recognize the eighth World Wildlife Day, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly (U.N.G.A.) at its 68th session on December 20, 2013.
Videos
Throughout history, philosophers have construed the universe in many ways, and one of the oldest is to see it made up by pairs of opposites. For example, art and science, good and evil, matter and motion, structure and function, and living and nonliving all exemplify this particular way of looking at the cosmos.
