Research Spotlights Archives - Page 26 of 191

A beaver swims with a stick through a creek in front of tall grass and brush.

Beavers Are Remaking Microbial Ecosystems in the Arctic

by Saima May Sidik 22 August 202322 August 2023

As beavers expand their range northward into the Arctic tundra, changes in bacterial, archaeal, and fungal communities appear to be following.

Research Spotlights

Current Agriculture Adds More Phosphorus to Streams Than to Lakes

by Rachel Fritts 17 August 202317 August 2023

Improved agricultural nutrient management could improve stream water quality by reducing phosphorus levels, but rising temperatures and rainfall due to climate change might offset improvements.

The setting Sun sits just above the horizon and under a partly cloudy sky, with a body of water in the foreground.

Research Spotlights

Biogeochemical Insights from a Major Amazonian River

by Aaron Sidder 15 August 202322 October 2024

Underrepresented in global carbon budgets, tropical rivers like Brazil’s Tocantins are in need of study to establish their baseline characteristics in the face of increasing global change.

View of the half-illuminated Moon surrounded by black space

Research Spotlights

Visualizing the Deep Insides of Planets and Moons

by Sarah Stanley 10 August 202314 August 2023

A novel method uses gravity data to determine where density anomalies lie inside planetary bodies.

Satellite view of part of Badwater Basin in Death Valley, Calif., showing meandering river channels running through the arid landscape

Research Spotlights

Mud Could Have Made Meandering Rivers Long Before Plants Arrived

by Rebecca Dzombak 31 July 202331 July 2023

New evidence from 1.2-billion-year-old rocks suggests that single, sinuous channels could have formed in muddy floodplain sediments without the stabilizing help of vegetation.

A view of the ocean surface, with wave crests blurred together because of the long exposure time of the photograph

Research Spotlights

Thin Skin Helps Regulate Ocean Carbon Uptake

by Aaron Sidder 28 July 2023

Cooler and saltier than even the water just below it, the ocean skin plays a critical role in ocean-atmosphere gas exchange.

Satellite view of streaky stratocumulus clouds over the ocean

Research Spotlights

Family Trees Clarify Relationships Among Climate Models

by Sarah Stanley 18 July 202318 July 2023

A new genealogy based on similarities in the computer codes of different climate models could improve studies that combine projections from multiple models.