Some colleges are mammals, others are cities
Higher education in the United States spans five orders of magnitude, from the tiny institutions like the 26-person Deep Springs College in the high desert of eastern California to behemoths, like Arizona State University's city-sized 130,000. A new.....»»
When air and road travel dropped during COVID, so did air pollution levels
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global road travel and commercial flight activity decreased by 50% and 60%, respectively, compared to pre-pandemic levels. During the lockdowns that cities imposed in the initial months of COVID, flight.....»»
Taming the Climate Is Far Harder Than Getting People to the Moon
In his 1949 book The Concept of Mind, Gilbert Ryle, an English philosopher, introduced the term “category mistake.” He gave the example of a visitor to the University of Oxford who sees colleges and a splendid library and then asks, “But wher.....»»
Magpies, curlews, peregrine falcons: How birds adapt to our cities, bringing wonder and joy and conflict
For all the vastness of our Outback and bush, most Australians live in urban areas. In cities, we live within an orderly landscape, molded and manufactured by us to suit our needs. But other species also live in this modified environment......»»
Study finds less bird diversity in city forests
A new study led by Lund University in Sweden shows that cities negatively affect the diversity of birds. There are significantly fewer bird species in urban forests compared with forests in the countryside—even if the forest areas are of the same q.....»»
New study evaluates "urban-wildland juxtapositions" of 36 US cities
For some, the great outdoors is nothing but a short walk away, while for others escaping the city is an odyssey in itself. While jogging in the wildlands surrounding Salt Lake City, Professor Jeff Rose wondered if there was a way to measure the borde.....»»
Researchers reconstruct the genome of the common ancestor of all mammals
Every modern mammal, from a platypus to a blue whale, is descended from a common ancestor that lived about 180 million years ago. We don't know a great deal about this animal, but the organization of its genome has now been computationally reconstruc.....»»
How we accidentally planned the desertion of Australian cities
COVID-19 may have kick-started the decline of the Australian CBD, but our newly published research shows how planning decisions had already created cities that lacked resilience......»»
Lead safety guidance lacking for urban farmers in many major US cities
Urban gardens and farms are on the rise in the U.S., but urban soils are sometimes contaminated from legacy pollution and industrial use. Despite this risk, there is little guidance for people growing food in urban soils on what levels of lead are sa.....»»
Docile raccoons are super learners and likely trashcan criminal masterminds
Bustling with exciting urban opportunities, cities are attractive not only to human residents. Many creatures happily share human settlements, feasting on easy pickings. But what makes some creatures better suited for life in the urban fast lane?.....»»
Extreme Heat Saps Billions in Worker Productivity
Annual worker productivity losses from extreme heat amounted to $44 billion on average across 12 cities and are projected to rise to $84 billion by 2050.....»»
Brown carbon from aromatic pollutants is emitted during combustion and wildfires
Tiny aerosol particles that are suspended in the air can absorb and scatter sunlight radiation and contribute to create clouds affecting climate, reduce the visibility over cities and affect air traffic, and lower air quality. Aerosols in large pollu.....»»
Search for clues may explain collapse of ancient city in Mexico
Built more than a thousand years before the Aztec arrived in central Mexico, Teotihuacan was once one of the largest cities in the world. Its stone temples, comparable in size to Egypt's pyramids, still draw fascinated visitors, as does the mystery s.....»»
It’s Time for Cities to Ditch Delivery Trucks—for Cargo Bikes
A new study shows that cycling packages the final few miles to their recipients isn’t just greener than using a van, but often quicker too......»»
Earth harbours 20,000,000,000,000,000 ants. And they weigh more than wild birds and mammals combined
Have you ever wondered exactly how many ants live on Earth? Possibly not, but it's certainly a question we've asked ourselves......»»
Climate change threatens up to 100% of trees in Australian cities, and most urban species worldwide
To anyone who has stepped off a hot pavement into a shady park, it will come as little surprise that trees (and shrubs) have a big cooling effect on cities......»»
Parts of many coastal cities are sinking faster than the sea is rising
A team of researchers at Nanyang Technological University, working with a group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and another colleague at ETH Zürich, has found evidence showing that parts of many big coastal cities are sinking faster than the sea.....»»
Pandemic did not weaken student trust in higher education overall
Despite major COVID-19 disruptions, a survey study involving more than 8,300 students at 29 colleges and universities revealed that most maintained their trust in their institutions, at least in the early pandemic months......»»
A Growing Drinking Water Crisis Threatens American Cities and Towns
The Jackson, Miss., disaster rings alarm bells about myriad problems lurking in water systems across the country.....»»
Removing turf-grass saves water. But will it increase urban heat?
As Las Vegas and other Southwestern cities look for ways to reduce water use during a historic drought, the removal of grass lawns and other areas of "nonfunctional turf" has been recommended by the Southern Nevada Water Authority and written into Ne.....»»
Swimmer"s Itch: What causes this neglected snail-borne disease?
Cercarial dermatitis, also known as swimmer's itch or clam-digger's itch, is caused by the larvae of blood flukes that are parasites of birds or mammals. When these larvae, called cercariae, penetrate human skin, they trigger an allergic reaction wit.....»»