Mangrove forests occupy only a tiny fraction of Earth’s land surface, yet they are among the planet’s most valuable ecosystems. Growing where land meets the sea, these salt-tolerant trees form dense coastal forests that shield shorelines from storms, provide nurseries for marine life and lock away enormous amounts of carbon. Their exceptional ability to capture…

Image(s): International Mathematical Union Two Chinese mathematicians have made history by becoming the first Chinese recipients of the Fields Medal, widely regarded as the highest honour in mathematics. Hong Wang and Yu Deng were recognised for solving long-standing mathematical problems that had challenged researchers for more than a century, marking a milestone not only for…

Before major surgeries and operations, doctors often detect diseases in humans using minimally invasive methods like a blood or urine test, before symptoms become severe. Now, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are applying a similar concept to coral reefs. They have shown that the water surrounding reefs contains chemical and microbial signals…

Benjamin Franklin (Image: Wikipedia) Life gets measured in years, but it is really defined by what actually happens inside them. A line widely credited to Benjamin Franklin puts that gap sharply. “Many people die at twenty-five and aren’t buried until they are seventy-five,” it goes. It is obviously not describing literal death. It is describing…

Millions of tiny oysters are being returned to the Chesapeake Bay in an ambitious conservation effort that scientists hope will transform one of the United States’ most important estuaries. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), in partnership with the Severn River Association, recently planted three million juvenile oysters in a protected sanctuary reef in Maryland’s Severn…

Tasmanian devils, dogs and shellfish are some of the only animals that are known to carry naturally occurring cancers that can pass between individuals. But scientists in Vermont have discovered a new animal species that can do the same, catfish. When they researched the mysterious black skin lesions afflicting catfish in Lake Memphremagog and other…