Looking for brook trout? Try environmental DNA.
New research
Posted inFebruary 16, 2015: Chainsaw Diplomacy
The Latest: Update on the endangered Pallid Sturgeon
Scientists found that dams are indeed to blame for population declines.
Posted inFebruary 16, 2015: Chainsaw Diplomacy
Wilderness as therapist
A growing number of veterans and researchers are racing to understand nature’s power to heal.
Posted inArticles
Attacks on federal research funding anger scientists
Politicians lay siege to the National Science Foundation.
Posted inFebruary 2, 2015: This Land is Their Land
Balanced rocks can tell us about earthquake risk
Seismologists study precarious boulders to determine how hard the ground might shake.
Posted inArticles
Mapping Earth’s hidden water
A new NASA satellite will measure the planet’s soil moisture.
Posted inArticles
Bison, cows and rabbits square off on Utah range
Study says jackrabbits, not bison, are cattle’s main competitors in the Henry Mountains.
Posted inArticles
New cloud seeding study from Wyoming
Research renews the debate about whether scientists can really make more rain.
Posted inArticles
Montana mycologist fights fungus with fungus
To save whitebark pines, apply slippery jack.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Descent into an ice-age bonebed in Wyoming
The giant pit may hold clues about the demise of the West’s ancient megafauna.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
The dust detectives
Scientists are closer than ever to understanding how microscopic airborne particles shape the Earth, and the West.
Posted inArticles
Killing wolves to protect cattle may backfire
A new study raises questions about how to handle livestock conflicts.
Posted inArticles
Virus implicated in starfish wasting disease
A team of scientists have figured out what’s killing West Coast sea stars, but bigger mysteries remain.
Posted inArticles
Offshore oil rigs can provide prime fish habitat
But will California’s platforms stay in the ocean once the oil runs out?
Posted inArticles
NASA finds methane hot spot over Four Corners
The culprit is the extensive fossil fuel industry infrastructure, not just fracking or coal mines.
Posted inArticles
The Earth has half as many animals as it did in 1970
In the Western U.S., megafauna is on the rise — but amphibians are in trouble.
Posted inArticles
Climate change found to have spurred worldwide heatwaves
But floods and droughts have less certain links to planetary warming.
Posted inArticles
More pesticides are permeating urban streams
But rural rivers are getting cleaner, a new study says.
Posted inArticles
Manmade quakes shake the Southwest
Tremors in Colorado and New Mexico linked to coalbed methane extraction.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
On the hunt for fireflies in Utah
Scientists find the flashing bugs after a 30-year search.