Blogs

Some of the best science stories seem to emerge in a three step process.  Step 1: Someone points out an error in your thinking, or you can’t let go of a nagging feeling that somehow you are wrong about what you think your data are telling you. Step 2: In a deep, and sometimes painful, exploration of what went wrong with your own analysis, you discover a systematic error in the way whole groups of researchers are thinking about the issue.  Step 3: The new story you are able to tell by looking at the data fresh turns out to be more interesting than the standard account.

David Lindenmayer and Jerry F. Franklin, authors of several Island Press titles, have just collaborated on an important new study. Published in the latest edition of Science, the study reveals that old trees worldwide are dying at an alarmingly fast rate —and that these deaths are impacting forests' ecosystems greatly.

Salamanders, fish and perhaps even humans are evolving fast in response to toxic chemicals. Is that bad? In the hemlock and oak forests of northeastern Connecticut, Steve Brady stood thigh deep in black muck and scooped up a handful of spotted salamander eggs. A Yale PhD student, he had once fancied himself zipping across tropical waters in a Zodiac boat or scanning rainforest canopies in search of exotic birds. Instead, he had just planted his budding career as an evolutionary biologist in a muddy ditch.

In Trapper's Point, Wyoming, a special team has come together to  protect an endangered species of antelope. Overpasses have been built along Highway 191 to direct pronghorns' migration across the busy road. Jon Beckmann, an editor of Safe Passages: Highways, Wildlife, and Habitat Connectivity, is "ecstatic" about the project's success: