Category: Science

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3 men in stream in stream - Photo Credit: Cameron Ghalambor

Climate adaptation: Survival of the flexible

Up in the foothills of the Rockies last summer, researchers from Colorado State University in Fort Collins fanned out along the banks of a stream. Some took the water’s temperature and measured its speed and chemistry. Others waded in to catch insects using flat-bottomed nets.

An Ash Meadow Amargosa pupfish.

Should we Dilute Genes to Save a Species?

West of Pahrump, Nevada, in a corner of the Mojave Desert a couple thousand feet above Death Valley, a warm aquifer provides a home for one of the world’s rarest animals. It’s a tiny silvery-blue fish, smaller than your pinkie toe, and in the past 50 years it has survived real-estate speculators,

Golden Toad, Monte Verde

A Rise in Fungal Diseases is Taking A Growing Toll on Wildlife

On the southeastern outskirts of Washington, D.C., inside the Smithsonian Institution’s cavernous Museum Support Center, one can see some frogs that no longer exist. Alcohol-filled glass jars hold preserved specimens of Incilius periglenes, the Monte Verde golden toad;

Acropora palmata spawning in Belize, courtesy of Raphael Ritson-Williams.

Frozen Sperm Offer a Lifeline for Coral

COCONUT ISLAND, Hawaii — Just before sunset, on the campus of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Mary Hagedorn waited for her mushroom corals to spawn.

As corals go, Fungia is fairly reliable, usually releasing its sperm and eggs two days after the full moon.