Biodiversity is more than the number of species on Earth. It is also the amount of unique evolutionary history in the tree of life. We find that losses of this phylogenetic diversity (PD) are disproportionally large in mammals compared with ...
As illustrated by recent hurricanes Florence and Michael, it is now more important than ever for the research and stakeholder communities of Virginia to come together to plan and prepare for such hazards as hurricanes, increased precipitation, and accelerated river and coastal flooding.
The coastal zone hosts more than half of the world’s population, large port facilities vital to the global economy, and military installations important to national ...
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Through the awarding of two contracts, the Centers for Disease Control is tapping the expertise of Amy Pruden and Marc Edwards in a wider effort to address emerging public health priorities.
Bacteria that become resistant to antibiotics lead to an estimated 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses per year in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control is launching an ...
The Sun circles the earth! Spontaneous generation can bring forth life! The earth is one solid mass! These are all statements that the majority of scientists once agreed with, but that we now recognize to be incorrect. It is easy to look back on them and feel confident about how far human knowledge has come, but the truth is that many of the statements ...
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Humans are rapidly taming the world’s wild places.
In the past century, nearly 80 percent of all land has been modified or impacted by human development. As a result, other species have rapidly declined. One study estimates animals are going extinct 1,000 times faster than they would have without human influence.
To ...
Drs. Brian Badgley, David Haak (SPES), Lisa Belden, and Frank Aylward (BIOL) are offering a new, broad-based soils course for those that have had little exposure to the belowground world. If you are interested in…
Do you need to characterize the impact of the microbial communities in your study system? Do you already have sequence data describing microbial communities that you need to process? Are you curious about the current state of the science for studying microbiomes?
Faculty from the School of Plant and Environmental ...
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A sense of gloom and frustration clung to the air along with the late lingering Virginia humidity as the first year IGC fellows met for their weekly seminar on September 24 to discuss denialism and the Merchants of Doubt, the film based on the Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway book of the same name.
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OCT
JOCOTÁN, CHIQUIMULA, GUATEMALA – Eduardo Méndez López lifts his gaze to the sky, hoping to see clouds laden with rain.
After months of subsisting almost exclusively on plain corn tortillas and salt, his eyes and cheeks appear sunken in, his skin stretched thin over bone. The majority of his neighbors look the same.
After Hurricane Florence hit the southeast coast last month, Claytor Lake, hundreds of miles away in southwestern Virginia, took a hit. More than fifteen tons of debris ended up in the lake – everything from the usual ‘flotsam and jetsam’ to at least one toilet, a mannequin, and an empty boat.
This part of Virginia is not home to very many lakes, and ...
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In Bangladesh, low-lying and vulnerable to yearly flooding, farmers are shifting from raising chickens to raising ducks. Ducks can swim.
In the Philippines, where half the mangrove forests have been lost to development, biologists are replanting the trees to recreate nature’s protective coastal shield against deadly typhoons. The gnarled tangle of mangrove roots slows the movement of ...
The Virginia Tech Science Festival returns to campus Saturday, Oct. 27, with 93 free hands-on, minds-on learning interactive booths and activities that showcase dozens of science education and research programs throughout the university, including physics, space, engineering, communication, geology, health and medicine, history, transportation, computers, chemistry, and more.
Events will be held in the Moss Arts Center, Carol M. Newman Library, Torgersen Hall, and along Alumni Mall. Parking ...
Although eastern hellbender salamanders are known by many unflattering nicknames — mud puppy, snot otter, grampus, and Allegheny alligator — about 70 percent of adult male hellbenders should more accurately be known as doting fathers.
Unlike most wildlife species, male hellbenders provide exclusive care for their young for an extended period of seven months.
William Hopkins, professor of wildlife in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, is the principal ...
William A. Hopkins, professor of wildlife in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, has been appointed chair to a committee of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: The Review of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Laboratories: Processes, Procedures, and Best Practices to Meet National Needs.
Hopkins will chair the committee for the duration of a 30-month analysis of all U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) laboratory facilities.
Hopkins, who ...
