Nature
irds of a feather flock together, but perhaps not in the way we thought. An analysis of flocking starlings suggests the decision to turn spreads through the birds like a rippling wave, rather than diffusing through the group like a gas. Current theories hold that flocking animals like starlings attempt to stay a certain distance apart at all times. Any decision to turn would therefore spread slowly through the group in multiple directions, like a gas in a box.
Foster Gamble offers a thoughtful a review of conflicting opinions, pros and cons on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) – drilling and then blasting fissures in rocks thousands of meters under the earth – and what actions we can take to stop it.
The Obama administration gave the greenlight for fossil fuel companies to begin exploring for oil in the waters off the east coast of the U.S., a move said to have a dire consequences for marine life in the short term and on our global climate for years to come. Environmentalists are decrying the decision by the Department of the Interior to allow oil companies to use sonic canons to map the ocean floor, saying the explosive blasts threaten to kill or injure tens of thousands of marine mammals—including endangered right whales—and devastate coastal communities who depend on tourism, fishing, and coastal recreation. The seismic blasting, which can reach over 250 decibels, causes hearing loss in marine mammals, disturbs essential behaviors such as feeding and breeding over vast distances, and can mask communications between individual whales and dolphins.
Every generation faces a unique political reality and set of concerns it needs to tackle together and yours is the multiple threats to the earth itself from over-exploitation, pollution and the growth imperative. From the diminishing life in the oceans, and the destruction of old growth forests, to the clear limits of a fossil fuel economy, our Mother Earth is suffering.
Watch: Scientists say a layer of minerals in the mantle could hold three times the water present on Earth’s surface.
Two widely used neonicotinoids—a class of insecticide—appear to significantly harm honey bee colonies over the winter, particularly during colder winters, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).
Are we destined to be Easter Island writ large? Or will we take our place in the great community of life as we were intended, and become the caretakers, the stewards of this miraculous planetary being within whom we are so intimately embedded?
Research ship Okeanos Explorer is roaming the Gulf of Mexico, and its remotely operated vehicle is live streaming video that any landlubber can enjoy. The need to understand the Gulf should resonate this month, because the four-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion was Sunday, April 20.
Our beloved Mother Earth is precious to me, as I’m sure it is to you. I put together a little slideshow of some of my favorite Nature photos that I’ve taken over the past couple of years to share with you.
Lately I have realized just how much taking photographs feeds my soul. When I look through the lens of my camera (and yes, even my iPhone) my heart begins to race and I am transfixed by the abstraction and the beauty that I see before me. And then to get to see it all over again is just an added bonus! Please come on over to my website to view a special gift that I put together for you on Earth Day!
We live in a world of unseeable beauty, so subtle and delicate that it is imperceptible to the human eye. To bring this invisible world to light, filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg bends the boundaries of time and space with high-speed cameras, time lapses and microscopes. At TED2014, he shares highlights from his latest project, a 3D film titled “Mysteries of the Unseen World,” which slows down, speeds up, and magnifies the astonishing wonders of nature.
Can citizens, rather than governments or corporations, solve the vanishing bee problem by making it easy to keep bees? Join the OSBH team to find out!
Honeybees are vanishing. Reignite your passion to save them by watching this stunning high-speed clip of the world of pollen and pollinators from Wings of Life.
