environment

Sep 8, 2011

Monster Fish Q & A, with Zeb Hogan

Editor’s Note: Dr. Zeb Hogan is an assistant research professor at the University of Nevada-Reno, and host of the National Geographic series “Monster Fish.” Hogan is the keynote speaker at NC State’s Frederick and Joan Barkalow Distinguished Conservationist Lecture, which will be held Sept. 14 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. in David Clark Labs, Room 101. The event… 

Aug 26, 2011

Send In The Ants

Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by David Hunt, of NC State’s News Services. I don’t want to alarm you, but you may have Camponotus americanus crawling around in your backyard. Or Tetramorium caespitum creeping between the cracks in your front walkway.  In fact, there are more than 200 species of these critters sharing our… 

Jul 13, 2011

Spread Of Fungus-Farming Beetles Is Bad News For Trees

North Carolina State University researchers have found that a subset of fungus-farming ambrosia beetles may be in the early stages of a global epidemic threatening a number of economically important trees, including avocados, poplars and oaks. 

Jun 1, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Horse Flies

Mosquitoes and ticks are nasty, but no family of blood feeders can compete with horse flies. They’re the most diverse group of blood-feeding animals on Earth (and, as far as we know, in the entire universe). Whether you call them horse flies, greenheads, deer flies or bloodthirsty so-and-sos, these insects are all part of the… 

May 31, 2011

Study: Biodegradable Products May Be Bad For The Environment

Research from North Carolina State University shows that so-called biodegradable products are likely doing more harm than good in landfills, because they are releasing a powerful greenhouse gas as they break down. 

May 23, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Black Widows

It’s hard to think of an arthropod with a worse reputation than the black widow. Heck, the term is even used to describe serial killers – and it doesn’t get much worse than that. We’ve already covered mosquitoes, ticks and carpenter bees in our “bad bugs” series, but any conversation about bugs people hate has… 

May 20, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Carpenter Bees

Our first two posts on the bad bugs of summer were about bloodsuckers: mosquitoes and ticks. We’ll now look at a pest that is a plague on our homes, if not our flesh – carpenter bees. However, in keeping with tradition, this “bad bug of summer” is not a true bug. Why are carpenter bees… 

May 10, 2011

Darkness Stifles Reproduction of Surface-Dwelling Fish

There’s a reason to be afraid of the dark. Fish accustomed to living near the light of the water’s surface become proverbial “fish out of water” when they move to dark environments like those found in caves, according to a study from North Carolina State University. In research published this week in Biology Letters, a… 

Apr 26, 2011

Wetlands: Cleaning Stormwater, Killing Blood-Suckers

Developers most often use “wet ponds” to minimize stormwater runoff pollution at new real-estate developments. Now they may have to start rethinking their options. Research shows that building wetlands does a better job than wet ponds of removing pollutants – and could also help limit mosquito populations. Researchers from NC State have weighed a range of… 

Apr 21, 2011

Earth Day: Global Research Challenges

For more than 40 years, Earth Day has been a call to arms to appreciate and protect our natural environment. In order to accomplish that mission, we must first understand the challenges threatening our environmental health and sustainability. 

Apr 21, 2011

Researchers Find Fat Turns Into Soap In Sewers, Contributes To Overflows

Researchers from North Carolina State University have discovered how fat, oil and grease (FOG) can create hardened deposits in sewer lines: it turns into soap! The hardened deposits, which can look like stalactites, contribute to sewer overflows. 

Apr 18, 2011

Earth Day: Research Challenges

For more than 40 years, Earth Day has been a call to arms to appreciate and protect our natural environment. Improving our understanding of the environment is an essential component of that mission. With that in mind, we have asked researchers in fields ranging from wildlife ecology to meteorology to political science to briefly outline… 

Apr 13, 2011

NC State Develops Material To Remove Radioactive Contaminants From Drinking Water

A combination of forest byproducts and crustacean shells may be the key to removing radioactive materials from drinking water, researchers from North Carolina State University have found. 

Mar 24, 2011

What Happened In Japan? An Overview

In the wake of a recent earthquake and tsunami, there has been enormous interest in the problems facing Japanese nuclear power plants. These events have people asking a large number of questions. What happened? How dangerous is this? How do nuclear power plants work, anyway? On March 23, a panel of nuclear engineering experts held… 

Mar 14, 2011

Research Gets Curiouser and Curiouser

Interested in learning more about how ants live in the medians of Manhattan or in Peruvian tree gardens? How about the ways animals and plants move through landscape corridors that surround nuclear weapons sites? If so, you have something in common with Dr. Jai Ranganathan, a conservation biologist who produces “Curiouser and Curiouser” podcasts for…