Marshall Islands stick chart, Meddo type

Marshall Islands Wave Charts

Charts constructed of carefully bound sticks served as memory aids, allowing sailors of the Marshall Islands to navigate between the islands by feel.
Ella Tyree in Ebony, February 1949

Women in Science Textbooks

A team of scholars examined the seven most popular ecology textbooks. Guess what they didn't find?
A teacher is standing next to a young student examining her findings from the pond.

How to Increase Diversity in Community Science Projects

There's often a disconnect between the ambitions of scientists engaging the public and the potential participants themselves.
Plain illuminated partially covered by fog, soft lights

Shedding Light on the Cost of Light Pollution

Artificial light has a huge variety of harmful effects on ecosystems. Scientists are exploring ways to mitigate the damage.
Two people gathering seeds

Can Crops’ Wild Relatives Save Troubled Agriculture?

Cultivating a limited number of crops reduced the genetic diversity of plants, endangering harvests. Seed collectors hope to fix it by finding the plants’ wild cousins.
A solar-panel equipped ship moves down the Amazon River

Can Sustainable Travel in the Amazon Help Reduce Forest Fires?

A rainforest evangelist hopes that Brazil’s 55-million year old jungle can survive 21st century human impact.
A seismic survey vessel

How Offshore Oil Exploration Affects Marine Life

Offshore oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic Ocean will involve seismic blasts, which may be harmful to whales and marine mammals.
sargassum seaweed dumped on beach

The Great Seaweed Invasion

In the Caribbean, sargassum deposits have grown to unprecedented sizes, obscuring the sand and turning nearshore waters into seething sargassum soup.
Scuba diver on shipwreck

Do Artificial Reefs Work?

Some authorities are trying to create fish habitats by cleaning old structures and dumping them at sea. But do these artificial reefs really work?
indigenous people brazil

Preserving South America’s Uncontacted Tribes

There are still tribes living in the Amazon rain forest who carry on their traditional way of life and rebuff attempts at contact.