What roils beneath the Earth's surface may feel a world away, but the activity can help forge land masses that dictate ocean circulation, climate patterns, and even animal activity and evolution. In fact, scientists believe that a plume of hot rocks that burst from the Earth's mantle millions of years...
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What if Mother Earth could sue for mistreatment?
The study highlights the transformative potential of the Rights of Nature, which views nature as a rights-bearing entity, not merely an object of regulation and subjugation by extractive industries. The Llurimagua case -- a dispute over a mining concession in Ecuador's cloud forest -- illustrates this approach, providing a unique...
Groundbreaking Study Uncovers How Our Brain Learns
Sophisticated synapse imaging used in NIH-funded project tracks changes within neurons as learning unfolds, offering new insights for brain-like AI systems.
Disrupting ‘Communication’ With Plants Could Limit Soybean Cyst Nematode Infections
Targeting a newly discovered vulnerability in the signals that cyst nematodes use to infect plant roots could be a powerful method for reducing the damage the parasitic worms cause in crops such as soybeans, according to a study co-authored by an Iowa State University professor.
How Wide Are Faults?
At the Seismological Society of America’s Annual Meeting, researchers posed a seemingly simple question: how wide are faults?
Unlocking the genetic basis of adaptive evolution: study reveals complex chromosomal rearrangements in a stick insect
Scientists report adaptive divergence in cryptic color pattern is underlain by two distinct, complex chromosomal rearrangements, where millions of bases of DNA were flipped backwards and moved from one part of a chromosome to another, independently in populations of stick insects on different mountains.
Seismology: How wide are faults?
Researchers posed a seemingly simple question: how wide are faults?
Early-life exposure to air and light pollution linked to increased risk of pediatric thyroid cancer
A new study suggests that early-life exposure to two widespread environmental pollutants -- small particle air pollution and outdoor artificial light at night -- could increase the risk of pediatric thyroid cancer. The study found a 'significant association' between exposure to ambient fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) and outdoor...
Americans don’t think bird flu is a threat, study suggests
A team led by researchers say public ignorance and apathy towards bird flu (highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI) could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus and preventing a larger-scale public health crisis.
Early detection of wood coating deterioration to better maintain wooden structures
From the Japanese cypress to the ponderosa pine, wood has been used in construction for millennia. Though materials like steel and concrete have largely taken over large building construction, wood is making a comeback, increasingly being used in public and multi-story buildings for its environmental benefits. Of course, wood has...