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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
The Overlooked Importance of Parasites
Parasites can be creepy, but according to some ecologists, parasites may substantially impact entire ecosystems—for the better.
The Impact of Studying Antarctica
In such a pristine landscape, even a few thousand people can have a major ecological impact.
It’s the End of the World as We Know It. Is there Any Room for Optimism?
Climate scientists tend to be optimistic and have faith that humanity can engineer our way out of the climate change we’ve created.
Maybe Earthworms Aren’t So Great For Soil After All
Earthworms are often portrayed as beneficial to the environment, but in North America's temperate forests, they are a disaster in action.