Survivors of life-threatening illness can be left in profound fear and distress. Are they suffering from a form of PTSD?
Aeon, March 3, 2020
Author: Liza Gross
Today’s Special: Grilled Salmon Laced With Plastic
We used to think microplastics stayed in a fish’s guts. Chilling new research suggests the tiny particles migrate into its flesh.
Mother Jones/FERN, Sept. 12, 2019
Feeding Wild Birds Can Carry Risks: Here’s How to Minimize Unintended Harms
Backyard bird feeders help urbanites feel close to nature but can also expose birds to disease and other potential threats. Luckily, bird lovers can take simple steps to reduce risks.
Travel science: Earthquake trail
The 1906 Earthquake left such “blindingly obvious” features in the earth it helped geologists tie faults with quakes and laid the foundation for modern seismology.
The Washington Post, Aug. 15, 2019 (and SF Gate, Aug. 29, 2019)
Counting Seals for Conservation
Biologists hail the comeback of Northern elephant seals, once hunted to near extinction for their oil-rich blubber, as one of conservation’s great successes. Now, they’re scrambling to protect the rebounding population’s habitat in Point Reyes, California from rising seas.
PBS Nature, June 11, 2019
Top Pick, Best Shortform Science Writing
Embracing Ecstasy
Can efforts to bottle MDMA’s magic transform psychiatry?
The Verge, May 22, 2019
Rainy Springs Bring Disaster for Nesting Tree Swallows
Concern about how climate change affects food security usually focuses on agriculture in resource-poor countries. But disruptions to weather patterns threaten food supplies for wildlife too.
PBS Nature, April 18, 2019
More Than 90 Percent of Americans Have Pesticides or Their Byproducts in Their Bodies
The real risks from chemicals in our food—for farmworkers and children, in particular—are being ignored.
The Nation, March 21, 2019
Master Regulators: How Mountain Lions Boost Biodiversity
Mountain lions and wolves have suffered from our ignorance ever since pioneers inundated their wilderness homes. But an emerging view of mountain lions’ unique ecological role is coming into focus.
PBS Nature, February 26, 2019
Bees face yet another lethal threat in dicamba, a drift-prone pesticide
Scientists warned the EPA years ago that dicamba would drift off fields and kill weeds that are vital to honeybees. The consequences of the EPA’s decisions now are rippling through the food system.
Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting/FERN, January 23, 2019
Recognized, Best Shortform Science Writing