On Caribbean coral reefs, an unlikely partnership has gone largely unnoticed: Tiny fish regularly nestle within the feathery structures of tube worms. While these sensitive worms typically snap shut at the slightest disturbance, they show a remarkable tolerance for their tiny guests.
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When we talk about climate adaptation, conservation or sustainability, we often assume that resilience is something everyone wants. The logic seems straightforward: Stronger resilience means better protection from floods, droughts, heat waves and ecological disruption. But what happens when communities resist projects that are explicitly designed to make them more resilient?
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‘A lot of our images of prehistoric people are just too big’… Chuang Zhao
This is an extract from Our Human Story, our newsletter about the revolution in archaeology. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every month.
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When you think of a South American rainforest, you probably don't imagine biting winds, heavy frosts and freezing temperatures. But in the mountains of southern Brazil, that's exactly what you can find. On this highland plateau, far from Amazonia in the country's coldest region, grows one of the world's most intriguing ecosystems.
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Shizhi Zhang, Linda Westman and Vanesa Castán Broto have published a paper in Political Geography that explores how classical Chinese political philosophy can contribute to contemporary debates on environmental justice (EJ) theory.
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With international football facing increasing criticism over its carbon footprint, University of Bath students are working with Bath City FC to show how community football could help tackle climate change.
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Beta-amyloid forms plaques in the brain (seen in yellow) that play a role in Alzheimer’s disease JUAN GAERTNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Alamy
A cognitive “speed training” game that cuts dementia risk by 25 per cent alters levels of beta-amyloid, a protein that clogs up the brain in Alzheimer’s disease, in men, but not in women.
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Our universe is known to be remarkably homogeneous and isotropic. This essentially means that matter is distributed evenly throughout the universe and that it looks almost the same in all directions.
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Pyrite, an iron sulfide ore, is often known as fool's gold because its shiny metallic luster and pale brass-yellow color can easily fool the untrained eye into mistaking it for real gold. This time, however, 360 kilometers (220 miles) south of Tokyo, scientists have uncovered invisible gold within pyrite structures found deep beneath the ocean at the Higashi-Aogashima Knoll Caldera hydrothermal field.
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Nature is beautiful, powerful and essential. But nature is not always gentle. The same biological world that gives rise to forests, coral reefs and human life also produces infections, cancer, genetic disease, crop blights and toxins. Natural processes can heal, sustain and inspire, but they can also destroy.
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