HS-LS2-7

Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.

  1. Animals

    Hellbenders need help!

    Hellbenders already face threats such as habitat loss, pollution and disease. But climate change could make matters worse. And the problems facing hellbenders could spell trouble for more than just these giant amphibians.

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  2. Ecosystems

    Scientists say: Biomagnify

    Chemicals in the environment can build up in an animal’s tissues. Predators who feed on these animals can accumulate more and more of the pollutants, a process known as biomagnification.

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  3. Environment

    Spidey sense: Eight-legged pollution monitors

    Spiders that prey on aquatic insects can serve as sentinels that naturally monitor banned chemicals that still pollute many rivers across the United States.

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  4. Animals

    Scientists seek bat detectives

    Bats emit high-pitched calls in the night to find their way around. A citizen science project is eavesdropping on these calls to probe the health of ecosystems.

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  5. Earth

    Coming: The sixth mass extinction?

    Species are dying off at such a rapid rate — faster than at any other time in human existence — that many resources on which we depend may disappear.

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  6. Animals

    Rare as a rhino

    Most species are rare. Some have always been rare. A problem develops when people are responsible for accelerating a species’ rarity to the point that extinction threatens.

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  7. Microbes

    Recycling the dead

    When things die, nature breaks them down through a process we know as rot. Without it, none of us would be here. Now, scientists are trying to better understand it so that they can use rot — preserving its role in feeding all living things.

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  8. Chemistry

    Chemistry: Green and clean

    “Green” means environmentally friendly and sustainable. Green chemistry creates products and processes that are safer and cleaner — from the start.

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  9. Environment

    Bug-killer linked to decline in birds

    One of the most popular chemicals used to protect crops from bugs may also take a toll on birds, a Dutch study finds. U.S. farmers also rely on these insecticides, a second study finds.

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  10. Animals

    A library of tweets (and howls and grunts)

    The Macaulay Library houses a world of animal sounds. And now anyone with an Internet connection can check out this audio collection.

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  11. Animals

    Decoding bee dances

    Biologists have started eavesdropping on bees — or their dancing sign language — to identify where these buzzers prefer to forage. This info is pointing to which bee-friendly habitats may be most important to preserve.

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  12. Animals

    Electronics may confuse a bird’s ‘compass’

    Birds use Earth’s magnetic field to help guide them as they migrate. A new study suggests that electromagnetic radiation given off by some electronic devices may act like “noise” and confuse the long-traveling birds.

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