Ecology

First off, don't be frustrated. YOU CAN DO IT! Contrary to the message in the image above, it's NOT over. It's just beginning. And when it comes to solving the New York Times crossword puzzle, the old cliche does apply: practice makes perfect. I've read quite a few books and ...more

When the New York Times paywall first went up, there was a whole lot of balking. The idea seemed egregious to most, and the digerati's overwhelming conclusion was that the system would fail. But interestingly enough, there is speculation that the NYT is actually experiencing a ...more

Although their effectiveness is waning, antibiotics remain a front-line defense against many infections. However, new science reveals using the wrong antibiotic for an infection could makes things much worse. It is common knowledge that overuse of antibiotics has led to the g ...more

Are you prone to crusades of the overambitious? Well, here's one for you: try to find and identify every animal on earth. You may think scientists have a handle on this, having pinned down 1.4 million animal species so far, but there are millions more are out there, waiting to ...more

Python is one of the most commonly used programming languages in the world. From data science to game design, Python appears in almost every industry that requires coding of some kind. If you're looking to get into or get promoted to a higher level in one of those industries, ...more

To keep fungal pathogens at bay in their crowded homes, wood ants mix potions to create powerful protection for their nest and their young. Makes sense, right? Humans mix chemicals all the time to make medicines, household cleaners, and other health and wellness products. But ...more

Ecosystem changes caused by agricultural choices in Brazil are creating a dangerous microbe mix in exploding populations of vampire bats and feral pigs. Even as human-influenced climate warming is tipping the tables on ecosystems around the world, choices made by landowners i ...more

A virus easily spread among trout and salmon could make it harder to keep your favorite fish on the menu. The image of dead and dying fish below is from a fish hatchery in the middle of an epidemic of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV). The easily transmitted viru ...more

If it takes a village to raise a child, you can imagine what it takes to raise a village! In brief: a whole lot! Thanks to the folks behind the Open Source Ecology movement, however, starting your own self-sufficient community has never been easier! Taking free software as a m ...more

Each morning, we spend a significant portion of our time staring into the mirror. From choosing clothes and accessories to perfecting our hair, we try to make ourselves attractive. Yet catching others' attention doesn't have to rely on preening and primping. There's some truth ...more

Seagrass may help your favorite beach stay a little less toxic. A new study, led by Joleah Lamb, a postdoctoral researcher in the Harvell Lab at Cornell University, found that coastal seagrasses reduce levels of pathogens dangerous to humans and marine organisms in near-shore ...more

No one can dispute the evolutionary success of bugs. The oldest insect fossils were found encased in crystallized mineral silica in Scotland in 1926, and they're between 396 and 407 million years old. Insects have seen dinosaurs come and go. They have survived disruptions to ...more

By connecting the dots between theory and real-life effect, two new studies offer more proof that neonicotinoid insecticides are causing extensive damage to honeybee colonies. Research studies have linked neonicotinoid insecticides to damage to honeybee colonies, while agricu ...more

As unappealing as it sounds, transplants with fecal material from healthy donors help treat tough Clostridium difficile gastrointestinal infections. Researchers credit the treatment's success to its ability to restore a healthy bacterial balance to the bowels, and new research ...more

A 6,000-year-old forest inhabitant awakens to find life in the forest around it in crisis. Plants, trees, animals, and birds are moving north to escape increasingly heated air, even as mass extinctions take place around the world. The inhabitant stirs and remembers it has live ...more

Males fight for dominance in order to gain access to the limited supply of female eggs. This is why male birds expend energy on brightly colored plumage, but female birds do not. That said, if a male knows he's relatively weak, there is often no point in wasting energy attemp ...more

The future of forests looks dreary in the face of a warming climate, but scientists are exploring the relationship between soil microbes and the ability of trees to move to higher altitudes, a key component of their survival. With the rate of ice melting and sea level rise ha ...more

As headlines focus on melting glaciers and rising water levels caused by global warming, climate change is quietly taking its toll on the nearly invisible occupants of this planet, the microbes. In a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers fro ...more

Python is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. Professionals use Python in virtually every field where coding is a requirement, whether it's game design or data science. If you're looking to learn Python, then get started with The 2021 Premium Python ...more

Sea otters are the largest members of the weasel family. When people started hunting sea otters for their fur, their population fell from roughly 225,000 to about 1,500, until the International Fur Seal Treaty took effect in 1911. Since the international ban on otter hunting, ...more