BRI’s story began in 1989 with the capture of a loon on a Michigan lake. Back then, it was all about the science, but over time, founder Dave Evers began to understand that knowledge for knowledge’s sake wasn’t enough.
Tucked around a corner in his office, you’ll often find Mark Burton, with a laser focus on his work. Mark walked through the doors of BRI seven years ago as an intern in the Center for Mercury Studies, working on the Global Biotic Mercury Synthesis database.
Leonardo DiCaprio—actor, producer, and activist? You got that right. DiCaprio uses his Instagram page to shed light on environmental issues. Scrolling through his Instagram, he shares articles about restoring forests in Madagascar, rewilding projects in Scotland, and salmon farms in Canada.
Spending a sunny day on a boat in Casco Bay isn’t a bad summer job, at least not for BRI biologists Helen Yurek and Logan Route. On a Thursday morning, we loaded up into a boat to set off in search of Common Eiders, sea ducks that spend most of their time along rocky seacoasts.
Move over, Sonic. There’s a new spin-jumping champion in town – the globular springtail (Dicyrtomina minuta). This diminutive hexapod backflips into the air, spinning to over 60 times its body height in the blink of an eye, and a new study features the first in-depth look at its jumping prowess. Globular springtails are tiny, usually only a couple millimeters in body length.
Researchers have received a $650,000 NSF grant to investigate the cultural dimensions of ecological instability by studying the experiences of vulnerable communities in South Florida and Puerto Rico. Using ethnography, they will capture the nuanced ways in which communities are responding to ecological disruptions. Understanding how cultures adapt to ecological instability can provide valuable insights for communities worldwide, including those in the Caribbean. By documenting and analyzing these responses, researchers can develop and refine strategies to enhance collective survival.
Michigan State University researchers contributed to a recent amphibian-focused study that shed light on the ecological importance of red-backed salamanders.
An internationally collaborative study delves into how fluctuating rainfall impacts the development of sea turtle hatchlings, revealing that it has a more profound effect than changes in air temperature. Regional weather influences incubation and hatchling development and the impact of rainfall varies between species. For loggerhead turtles, heavier rainfall results in hatchlings with smaller carapaces (shell) but greater weight, while green turtle hatchlings grow smaller carapaces without a change in body mass.
Tracy Devine Guzmán, an associate professor of Latin American studies at the University of Miami, received a Fulbright Scholar Award to conduct research on Indigenous land rights in Mato Grosso, Brazil, which contains part of the Amazon rainforest.
In the agricultural and food industry, determining the chemical composition of raw materials is important for production efficiency, application, and price. Traditional laboratory testing is time-consuming, complicated, and expensive. New research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign demonstrates that near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and machine learning can provide quick, accurate, and cost-effective product analysis.
Researchers representing 13 projects were recently awarded funding through the Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science (FICUS) program.
FICUS provides researchers with access to resources at multiple DOE user facilities through a single proposal. Awarded principal investigators and their research teams will receive access to instrumentation, resources, and expertise at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), Joint Genome Institute, and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement user facility, which are Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research program user facilities.
Not all communities in the United States face the same risks for environmental problems such as air pollution, noise and wastewater. But how can federal agencies fairly identify which areas deserve the most help?
Korean researchers have successfully developed an integrated ultra-high-speed compander system, which combines a compressor and an expander, utilizing advanced design technology.
By analyzing foram shells recovered in drill cores, a study led by University of Utah geologists links rapid climate change that led to thermal maxima 50 million years ago to rising CO2 levels.
A new, biomass-based material developed by FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers can be used to repeatedly capture and release carbon dioxide. The material is primarily made from lignin, an organic molecule that is a main component of wood and other plants, and it can take up carbon dioxide (CO2) from concentrated sources or directly from the air.
Leaders from the Department of Energy (DOE) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory celebrated the construction of the foundations for the lab’s newest facility on August 21, 2024. The Seismic Safety and Modernization (SSM) project is replacing the previous cafeteria building, which served the lab for 70 years. (The previous facility could not meet today’s standards for resilience in case of an earthquake, among other issues.) In contrast, the new facility has a 47,000-square-foot state-of-the-art design. It will encompass food service and conference facilities. The building will also be a home for operations services such as security, human resources, and the Health Services Clinic.