Study Shows Stressed Urban Insects are More Resilient in Extreme Weather

A study led by Amy Savage, a Rutgers University–Camden assistant professor of biology, will help researchers understand how to make predictions and conservation decisions about how organisms living in cities will respond to catastrophic weather events.

Hiding from a warmer climate in the forest

When studying the effect of climate change on biodiversity, it is important to consider the climate near the ground (microclimate) which a plant or an animal actually experiences. Deep shady depressions, dense old forests or places close to water for example are always considerably cooler than their surroundings.

After an Uncertain Start, U.S. Offshore Wind Is Powering Up

This summer, the Norwegian energy company, Statoil, will send a vessel to survey a triangular slice of federal waters about 15 miles south of Long Island, where the company is planning to construct a wind farm that could generate up to 1.5 gigawatts of electricity for New York City and Long Island — enough to power roughly 1 million homes. Construction on the “Empire Wind” project, with scores of wind turbines generating electricity across 79,000 acres of leased federal waters, is scheduled to begin in 2023, with construction completed in 2025.

Snow squall warnings to begin this winter

Imagine driving down a busy highway in winter: The weather is clear and you are going the speed limit.Suddenly, traffic is enveloped by white-out conditions with little to no visibility and strong, gusty winds. As you slow down, you see a chain-reaction of vehicles swerving, colliding into each other in the distance like amusement park bumper cars.

Lucky for you, you just survived a snow squall.

Researchers develop risk assessment tool to predict future kidney disease

Paulette McIlvena went to bed, at home, and woke up three weeks later, in hospital. She became severely ill due to complications from pancreatitis. While she was in a coma McIlvena underwent surgery and was put on dialysis as a temporary measure. Following those events in 2004, the pancreatitis cleared up, McIlvena’s kidneys started working again, and she thought her kidney troubles were behind her.

Recently, however, she was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease related to her experience 13 years ago and is now being treated by UCalgary’s Cumming School of Medicine physician-scientist Dr. Matthew James.

The ecological costs of war in Africa

When Josh Daskin traveled to Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park in 2012, its iconic large animals were returning from the brink of extinction. Gorongosa, among Africa’s most spectacular wildlife preserves until the 1970s, had been devastated by an anti-colonial war of liberation followed by a ghastly 15-year civil war — a one-two punch that exterminated more than 90 percent of the park’s wildlife.

Study suggests heavy rains from tropical cyclones distort the ground below

Torrential rainfall during a tropical cyclone could be responsible for reshaping the shallow layer of Earth’s crust in the days following the storm, according to new research.

Study finds body size of marine plankton, currents keys to dispersal in ocean

When it comes to marine plankton, the smaller you are the farther you travel. A new international study found that the size of plankton, and the strength and direction of currents, are key to how they are dispersed in the ocean – much more so than physical conditions including differences in temperature, salinity and nutrient availability.

Spotty coverage: Climate models underestimate cooling effect of daily cloud cycle

Princeton University researchers have found that the climate models scientists use to project future conditions on our planet underestimate the cooling effect that clouds have on a daily — and even hourly — basis, particularly over land.

In urban streams, pharmaceutical pollution is driving microbial resistance

In urban streams, persistent pharmaceutical pollution can cause aquatic microbial communities to become resistant to drugs. So reports a new study published today in the journal Ecosphere.