Category: Ecology & Environment

With forests being wiped out worldwide by climate change, deforestation, pests and plagues, trees need all the help they can get. In this episode of the SciStarter podcast, we learn about three citizen science projects that monitor and protect trees. Also, with gift-giving season right around the corner, Bob also shares a few of his […]

Sharks get a lot more attention than, say, sea cucumbers, possibly because sharks tend to have much bigger teeth. They even get their own week! (note to Discovery Channel: please find room for Sea Cucumber Week). And yet, as marine scientist and shark expert David Shiffman points out, scientists are still discovering new things about […]

When the global pandemic hit, acclaimed wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn, locked down in his small city garden in Bristol, England, decided to turn the cameras on the wildlife in his backyard. He was particularly fascinated with the bees visiting his garden. Putting his unparalleled skills and cameras to use, he filmed more than 60 different […]

The curved arm of Cape Cod jutting out into the Atlantic with 560 miles of beautiful coastline hints at the Cape’s glacial beginnings and its vulnerability to sea levels, now rising as a direct result of climate change. A disappearing island, a lost clam shack and a Beluga whale found in landlocked Vermont were all […]

How do you get people to care about the invisible? Watersheds are difficult to see, except for those who are conversant with hydrology or topographic maps. As much a geographic concept as a landform, watersheds are unlike hills or valleys or plains in that watersheds do not have a shape that is familiar to us. […]

This post is based on the latest episode of our podcast, Citizen Science: Stories of Science We Can Do Together! In it, co-host Bob Hirshon and Caroline Nickerson discuss some of the inspiring citizen science work conducted under the auspices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Listen here: Citizen Science: Stories of Science […]

As snow blankets the world each winter, the colder temperatures and shorter days can tempt us to curl up indoors with a hot chocolate, watching the winter landscape through the window. But there’s still much to be learned from the great outdoors! That’s why Sknowledge Collective — short for Snow Knowledge — is bringing the […]

“Our coral reefs are in danger … we need your help.” When new players log on to NASA’s NeMO-Net, they’re greeted with a video message from oceanographer Sylvia Earle. “Your mission is to take command of a research vessel, and travel the world collecting data on the ocean,” she says. Warming temperatures, rising sea levels […]

Researchers can accomplish amazing things these days with satellites — they can study clouds and climate, forests and land use change and even bird migrations. But with so much satellite data, it can be hard to match up measurements from the sky above with information about what’s actually on the ground. That’s where citizen scientists […]

Oceans give our world life. Phytoplankton breathe out 70 percent of our oxygen, and the oceans’  currents and other physical properties are responsible for our weather and climate. Scientists have long been keeping tabs on the ocean with vast networks of sensors, satellites and other equipment, in order to understand more about how it works […]