HS-LS2-7
Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
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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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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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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.
By Beth Mole -
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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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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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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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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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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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.
By Stephen Ornes and Janet Raloff -
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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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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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.