All Stories by Rebecca Dzombak
- Plants
Meet a scientist tracking cactus poaching in the Atacama Desert
Botanist Pablo Guerrero has been visiting Atacama cacti all his life. They’re not adapting well to a drier climate, booming mining and plant collection.
- Life
Trees are failing to adapt to climate change. Losing fungi partners may be why
Certain fungi give trees nutrients and water, but heat and drought are putting both at risk.
- Animals
How a new Lyme vaccine for mice may protect people
A vaccine, distributed as pellets, can neutralize Lyme-causing bacteria in wildlife. Scientists hope it will reduce Lyme exposure for people and pets.
- Life
Capybaras thrive, even near humans, because they’re not picky eaters
Scientists didn’t expect capybaras to eat both grasses and forest plants. The rodents’ flexible diet helps them live everywhere from cities to swamps.
- Science & Society
Russia’s invasion could cause long-term harm to Ukraine’s prized soil
War will physically and chemically damage Ukraine’s prized, highly fertile chernozem soils. The impacts on agriculture could last for years.
- Environment
Corals may store a surprising amount of microplastics in their skeletons
In tropical waters, coral reefs may be a “sink” for tiny bits of plastic debris. It’s unclear how corals’ trash pickup might affect reef health.
- Animals
Flamingos dye their sun-faded feathers to stay pretty in pink
During mating season, flamingos rub a makeup-like rouge on their necks to catch the eye of the opposite sex. They don’t bother once chicks are born.
- Paleontology
How fossilization preserved a 310-million-year-old horseshoe crab’s brain
A 310-million-year-old horseshoe crab’s brain was preserved in clay, thanks to an uncommon fossilization process that protected the fragile neural tissues.
Copiapoa solaris is already severely threatened due to climate change. Though their dark mounds dot the Atacaman landscape, some of these plants are already dead.
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For trees and fungi that rely on one another to survive, moving into new suitable habitats as climate change progresses is a particularly complicated process.
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A new, edible vaccine neutralizes Lyme-causing bacteria in white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus).
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As humans have broken up ecosystems across South America, capybaras have still thrived, possibly by expanding what they eat. Here, a herd of the rodents of unusual size grazes in a park in Curitiba, Brazil.
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A team works to destroy an unexploded missile in a field near Hryhorivka, Ukraine. War damage done to the country’s fertile soil could affect agriculture for years.
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Corals can store tiny plastic particles in their skeletons. Worldwide, corals may trap up to 3 percent of all microplastics in surrounding, shallow waters every year, scientists estimate.
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Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) use DIY dye to fight sun bleaching of their precious neck feathers. A touch of rouge is key for snagging a mate.
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The brain (white at center) of an extinct horseshoe crab called Euproops danae was fossilized in a clay mineral called kaolinite. The whole crab stretches only about 10 millimeters.
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