A new study has found that a smartphone app that tracks household water use and alerts users to leaks or excessive consumption offers a promising tool for helping California water agencies meet state-mandated conservation goals. The study found that use of the app -- called Dropcountr -- reduced average household...
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Diversity Is Key to Ecosystem Stability
In a collaborative study led by researchers at the University of Helsinki, analysis of 900 species over a 20-year period showed that biodiversity enhances ecosystem stability and helps safeguard natural communities in a changing environment.
Months in the Midnight Sun
In early May 2025, residents of Utqiaġvik, Alaska, were acclimating to the arrival of an exceptionally long stretch of daylight.
“Raindrops in the Sun’s Corona”: New Adaptive Optics Shows Stunning Details of our Star’s Atmosphere
Scientists develop new optical system that removes blur over fine-structure in the Sun’s corona, revealing clearest images to date.
Nordic studies show the significance of old-growth forests for biodiversity
Researchers conducted a systematic review of 99 scientific publications that compared the flora or fauna of old-growth forests, managed forests and clearcut sites in boreal Europe. The reviewed studies showed large differences in the species communities inhabiting these forest types. The species richness of full-canopy forests increases as the forest...
The ocean seems to be getting darker
Scientists, who have spent more than a decade examining the impact of artificial light at night on the world's coasts and oceans, have shown that more than one-fifth of the global ocean -- an area spanning more than 75 million sq km -- has been the subject of ocean darkening...
Megalodon: The broad diet of the megatooth shark
Contrary to widespread assumptions, the largest shark that ever lived -- Otodus megalodon -- fed on marine creatures at various levels of the food pyramid and not just the top. Scientists analyzed the zinc content of a large sample of fossilized megalodon teeth, which had been unearthed above all in...
Flowers unfold with surprising precision, despite unruly genes
Flowers grow stems, leaves and petals in a perfect pattern again and again. A new study shows that even in this precise, patterned formation in plants, gene activity inside individual cells is far more chaotic than it appears.
Coastal Squeeze Is Bad for Biodiversity, and for Us!
Worldwide, coastal areas are squeezed between a rising sea level on one end and human structures on the other.
Can Plants Hear Their Pollinators?
Research suggests pollinator buzzing sounds lead plants to increase their nectar production.