Transcript

5.22.25 · Science Show KY

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Radioized Diary of Science and Nature. Your reader's
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Kelly Taylor. I have some articles on the topics of
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science and nature, but first a reminder that RADIOI is
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a reading service intended for people who are blind or
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have other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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Our first article today is going to come from Mother Jones.
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Bird populations are declining across North America. Dated May sixth.
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Bird populations across North America are falling most quickly in
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areas where they are most abundant, according to new research,
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prompting fears of ecological collapse in previously protected areas. Analysis
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of nearly five hundred bird species across North America has
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found that three quarters are declining across their ranges, with
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two thirds of the total shrinking significantly. The study, published
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in the Journal's Science, indicates that former strongholds for bird
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species are no longer safe, particularly in grasslands, dry lands,
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and the Arctic. In one of the most ambitious uses
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of citizen science data so far, scientists at the Cornell
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Lab of Ornithology used observations from e bird, a popular
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application used by bird watchers to record sightings, to model
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changes between twenty seven and twenty twenty one. The granularity
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of the data allowed researchers to track the rate of
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change in ten square miles segments across North America, showing
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dramatic declines in areas where less than two decades ago
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bird species had thrived. We've known for several years that
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a lot of bird species in North America have been declining.
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With this study, we were aiming to understand in much
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finer spatial resolution where birds were declining and where they
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might be increasing. Than having a range wide trend to
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see if a species is going up or down, we
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want to know where it is going up and down,
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says Alison Johnston, director of the Center for Research into
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Ecological and Environmental Modeling at the University of Saint Andrew's,
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United Kingdom, who led the study, quote, the main ecological
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finding is that the locations where these species were thriving
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in the past, where the environments were really well suited
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to birds, are now the places where they are suffering
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the most, she said. The researchers said further studies were
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needed to explain the reasons behind the changes, many of
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which were dramatic, with populations falling by more than ten
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percent a year in some areas. Global heating and habitat
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change were put forward as the main theories behind the shifts,
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but Johnston said they ultimately did not know. Quote. The
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way I interpret this result is that it's indicative of
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major changes in our world. She said. The fact that
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where birds used to have strongholds, where there used to
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be a lot of resources, where the environments were really suitable,
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are now the places where they are declining most That
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suggests to me that we are just seeing fundamental changes
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to the environments around us. The birds are like the
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canary in the coal mine, she said. The research adds
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to a recent series of studies that have documented severe
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declines of birds in nature reserves and protected areas. Despite
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the worrying overall picture, the researchers found pockets of stability
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in bird populations in their analysis, such as the Appellachians
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and Western Mountains. In addition, ninety seven percent of all
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bird species said some pockets where their populations were increasing.
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The team at Cornell University has previously developed methods for
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reliably converting cinsis in science observations in apps such as
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e Bird into data that can be used to monitor
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population changes in a single species. The study author's only
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included results that had passed strict reliability checks. Amanda Roodewald
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from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a professor and co
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author on the study, said the methods would allow conservationists
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to target their efforts. Quote it is this kind of
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small scale information across broad geo geographies that has been lacking,
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and it's exactly what we need to make smart conservation decisions.
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She said. These data products give us a new lens
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to detect and diagnose population declines and to respond to
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them in a way that strategic, precise, and flexible. That's
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a game changer for conservation. Ian Burfield, global science coordinator
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with BirdLife, who was not involved in this study, welcomed
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the research and set it highlighted areas for further investigation. Quote,
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Northern American birds are one of very few taxonomic groups
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and regions where such data exists to facilitate this approach.
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This emphasizes the vital need for more field data collection,
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both through formal monitoring schemes and citizen science efforts in
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many other parts of the world, especially in the biodiversity
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rich tropics, he said. Next up from popular mechanics. We
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have an article from May the fifteenth that's headlined twenty
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eight American cities are literally sinking into the Earth. It's
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a well known fact that sea levels around the world
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are slowly rising. According to the US National Oceanic and
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Atmosphere Administration, sea levels have risen some eight to nine
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inches around the world since eighteen eighty and show no
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sign of stopping. That's concerning enough on its own, considering
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that forty percent of the United States population lives near coastlines.
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But American cities, along with cities around the world, are
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facing yet another problem that's only exacerbating this concerning side
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effect of climate change. They're sinking. In a new study
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led by scientists at Virginia Tech, a research team tracked
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the subsidence the subsidence rate of twenty eight major US
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cities across the country and found that at least twenty
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percent of the urban area of all of the cities
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was sinking to some degree. In twenty five of those
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twenty eight cities, more than sixty five percent of the
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land area was sinking to varying degrees. The most extreme
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example is Houston, Texas, where scientists discovered that some areas
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of the city we're sinking as much as ten millimeters
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per year. The results of the study were published in
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the journal Nature Cities. Obviously, the image of cities slowly
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sinking paints a picture of places like Houston, New York,
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and la simply slipping into the sea. But the implications
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of this higher than expected subsidence rate comes with the
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much more complex list of nearer term practical problems for
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both city planners and average homeowners. Quote, even slight downward
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shifts in land can significantly compromise the structural integrity of buildings, roads, bridges,
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and railways over time. This is Lenard Ohhenhen, a former
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Virginia Tech graduate student and the lead author of the study.
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The cause of the sinking varies from city to city.
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The leading cause of subsidence is groundwater extraction, which eventually
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leads to compaction of soil and sediments, and you guessed it,
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the net result of slowly sinking land. However, other causes
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can also be pretty impactful. Some parts of the country,
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for example, are still experiencing the extraordinary sea sawing of
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bed rock caused by the retreat of glaciers during the
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tail of the Pleistocene epoch. Meanwhile, out west, in cities
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like Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco, plate tectonics can claim
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some of the blame. Quote Sustained groundwater extraction lowers poor
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pressure in aquifer systems, leading to compaction of fine grained sediments,
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which results in land subsidence that can be detected from satellites,
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says Susannah Worth, a co author of the study. Quote.
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Such land subsidence has been observed across the US for
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many decades, but its increasing relevance in urban areas is
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especially hazardous. Ohhenian and his team are part of that
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observational history. Just last year, they published a study in
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the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences about
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the rapid subsidence of cities along the East Coast. However,
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this new study shows that not only is the phenomenon
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more widespread than originally understood, it's also not contained to
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coastal cities. Las Vegas, Denver, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Indianapolis, and
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many landlocked metropolitan areas also show signs of sinking. While
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this study only focused on the contiguous United States, the
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country's two most far flown states Alaska and Hawaii are
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also struggling with increased subsidence. For Alaska, the main culprit
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is permafrost degradation, and regarding Hawai, a study published earlier
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this year showed that some areas of OAHUU are sinking
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as much as twenty five millimeters per year due to
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some industrial sectors having been built a top artificial fill.
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None of this means that the US is about to
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become some legendary water filled Atlantis, but understanding the rate
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at which cities are sinking and the rate at which
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sea levels are rising can help city planners, water resource managers,
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and average homeowners prepare for the slowly sinking future ahead
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of us. Now we'll go to Popular Science, and this
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article from May the twentieth is headlined thirty one million
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tons of seaweed ready to stink up Florida's beaches. A smelly,
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sometimes toxic killer belt of seaweed might put a damper
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on floridian End's Memorial Day weekend plans. Sargassum is back
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just in time for the unofficial start of summer, and
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this year's influx of the brown algae would be a
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record breaking at thirty one million tons. Sargassum is a
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genus of large brown seaweed. As a seaweed is also
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a type of algae. It floats along the ocean in
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island like masses and does not attach to the seafloor
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the way that kelp does. According to Noah, this brown
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algae is abundant in the world's oceans. It has many
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leafy appendages, branches, and its signature berry like structures. These
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round quote unquote berries are actually gas filled structures called pneumneumaticysts.
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They are primarily filled with oxygen and add buoyancy to
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the plant structure and allow it to float on the
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surface of the water, similar to a life jacket. Importantly,
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sargassum provides food and a floating habitat for several marine species,
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including various fishes, sea turtles, marine birds, crabs, and shrimp.
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Some animals, like the sargassum fish, will spend their whole
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lives around sargassum's gas filled floats, and the seaweed is
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a nursery area for some commercially important fishes, including mahi
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mahi jacks and amberjacks. When sargassm washes up on shore,
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it begins to rot That rotting triggers the production of
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hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like rotten eggs. These odours
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themselves are not harmful to humans when inhaled in well
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ventilated areas like the beach, but the gases can't accumulate
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enough to cause harm if they are breeded in within
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enclosed spaces. Quote. Hydrogen sulfide can irritate the eyes, nose,
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and throat, writes Florida's Department of Health in Saint John's County. Quote,
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if you have asthma or other breathing illnesses, you will
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be more sensitive to hydrogen sulfide. You may have trouble
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breeding after you inhale ituote come into contact with jellyfish
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or other stinging organisms embedded in the writing. Seaweed can
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cause rashes on the skin. Any workers for volunteers collecting
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and transporting the seaweed should wear gloves, boots, and gas
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filter half masks for protection. In Florida and the Caribbean,
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sargassum season runs from April to August, with June and
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July as the peak months for setting in along the shoreline. However,
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the blobs have been spotted along shorelines since March this year,
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the bloom has already broken its own size records set
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in June twenty twenty five too, by forty percent, and
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is still growing. The annual bloom now stretches over five thousand,
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five hundred miles of ocean between Africa and the Caribbean
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and weighs and estimated thirty one million tons. Quote sargassm
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goes from being a very beneficial resource of the North
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Atlantic to becoming what we referred to as a harmful
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algal bloom when it comes ashore, an excessive biomass end,
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quote says Brian Lapointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic
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University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. Quote. What we have seen
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since twenty eleven are excessive inundation events all around the
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Caribbean region, the Gulf as well as the South Florida region.
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Increasing ocean temperatures due to climate change is one of
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the reasons for such a large bloom the Atlantic. The
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waters around Florida has record breaking high temperatures in recent years,
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creating ideal conditions for the seaweed to thrive. The excess
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nitrogen in the water from the burning of fossil fuels
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or dust from the Sahara is believed to be one
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of the forces behind this supercharged bloom. Scientists use satellites
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to track the seaweed and issue warnings if needed. The
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Carricos sargassum map and that is carry Coos sargassum map,
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shows that the bulk of the bloom is currently east
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of Puerto Rico, but it has already been spotted along
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Florida's Atlantic coast. Noah encourages anyone who encounters sargassum on
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the beach to report it with a form and now
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from Popular Mechanics. This article's dated May nineteenth. An apocalypse
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of toxic fungi could threaten million of lives within fifteen years.
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When writing about climate lots of ink or pixels in
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the twenty first century context is spent talking about the
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potential devastating impacts that climate change will have on plant
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and animal life. However, little is mentioned about the Kingdom fungi.
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Hundreds of thousands of species of fungi have been described,
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but that's likely only ten percent of the total number
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of fungal species that exist on Earth. These species include
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everyone's delicious favorites, but also some more dangerous species that
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can cause toxic infections in animals and agricultural crops. So
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In a new study from the University of Manchester, scientists
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asked the question of what rising global temperatures could mean
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for the proliferation of some of these meaner mycelia. In
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a paper published on the preprint platform Research Square, Norman
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Van rinn, the lead author of the study, and his
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team describe what our fungal future has in store. Quote.
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Changes in environmental factors such as humidity and extreme weather
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events will change habitats and drive fungal adaptation and spread.
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Van Rhynd said in a press statement, quote, We've already
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seen the emergence of the fungus Candida aurus due to
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rising temperatures, but until now we had little information of
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how other fungi might respond to this change in the environment.
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The researchers analyze the effects of rising temperatures on infection
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causing fungi using different climate scenarios up to the year
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twenty one hundred. The study showed that within fifteen years,
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if the world still relies on mostly fossil fuels instead
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of clean energy, fungi like Aspergillus Flavus, a cause of
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agri cultural rot that also produces mycotoxins that are harmful
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to mammals, will spread by sixteen percent, which would put
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an additional one million people at risk of infection in
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Europe alone. This is largely because A. Flavus is more
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thermotolerant than other fungi, meaning that it can thrive in hot,
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humid climates where other fungi simply could not. Unfortunately, this
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proliferation is relatively tame compared to Aspergillus fumagadis, which would
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increase its range by seventy seven percent and put an
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additional nine million people in Europe at risk under this
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worst case scenario. While described as a weak pathogen in
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previous studies, a Fumigatus can cause a severe, even fatal
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infection for people with immune deficiencies. Quote. Fungi relatively under
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researched compared to viruses and parasites, but these maps show
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that fungal pathogens will likely impact most areas of the
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world in the future, than Rhine said in a press statement. Quote,
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Raising awareness and developing effective interventions for fungal pathogens will
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be essential to mitigate the consequences of this quote. While
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the spread of these toxic fungi, whose infections are hard
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to avoid as they mostly travel in the air we breathe,
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the inverse may also be caused for concern Some life
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sustaining fungi responsible for breaking down plant and animal matter
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may not be able to survive in some of the
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hottest parts of the world. It's basically a one to
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two punch of bad news. Additionally, the study only examined
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the roughly ten percent of the fungi we know about,
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so even more infections or health concerns could arise from
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surprising sources currently unknown to us. Though it has yet
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to be peer reviewed, the paper details compelling evidence that
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our fungal future is a dismal one unless we seriously
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curtail carbon emissions in the coming years. Transitioning to a
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clean energy future is the best path forward for all
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of the plants, animals and overlooked fungus among us. Now
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we turn to the Guardian and the headline for this
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article is bees face new threats from wars, street lights
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and microplastics. Scientists warn this is dated May nineteenth. War zones,
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microplastics and street lights are among the emerging threats to
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the bee population, according to scientists. B experts have drawn
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up a list of the twelve most pressing threats to
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the pollinator over the next decade, published in a report
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Emerging Threats and Opportunities for Conservation of Global Pollinators from
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the University of Reading. Increasing war and conflict around the
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world as harming bees. The scientists worn this includes the
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war in Ukraine, which has forced countries to grow fewer
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crop types, leaving pollinators without diverse food throughout the season.
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The researchers found microplastic particles were contaminating beehives across Europe,
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with testing from three hundred and fifteen honeybee colonies revealing
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synthetic materials such as pet plastic in most hives. Artificial
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light from street lamps has been found to reduce flower
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visits by nocturnal pollinators by sixty two percent, and air
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pollution has been found to affect their survival, reproduction, and growth.
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Antibiotics used in agriculture have made their way into beehives
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and honey They have also been found to affect the
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behavior of pollinators, including reducing their foraging and visits to flowers.
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Pesticide cocktails also play a significant and emerging role. Although
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some pesticides are now regulated to be kept below safe
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limits for bees and other wildlife, research is found they
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can interact with other chemicals and cause dangerous effects. Professor
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Simon Potts of Reading University, the lead author of the report,
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said identifying new threats and finding ways to protect pollinators
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early is key to preventing further major declines. This is
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not just a conservation issue. Pollinators are central to our
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food systems, climate resilience, and economic security. Protecting pollinators means
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protecting ourselves. The authors have called for a number of
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measures to protect bees, including stronger laws limiting antibiotic pollution
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that harms bee health, transitioning to electric vehicles to reduce
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air pollution effects pollinators, creating flower rich habitats within solar parks,
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and breeding crops with enhanced pollen and nectar for better
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pollinator nutrition. The report's co author, Doctornpa Cinapathi, also from
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the University of Reading, added quote it will take effort
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from everyone to address these efforts these threats. We need
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to maintain, manage, and improve our natural habitats to create
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save spaces for pollinators. Individual actions like providing food and
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nesting areas and our own back gardens can help in
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a big way, but policy changes and individual actions must
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work together, so everything from gardens and farms to public
23:46
spaces and wider landscapes can all become pollinator friendly habitats.
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Quote and Now from USA Today, dated May the seventeen.
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The headline is forecasters note an unusual pattern ahead of
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hurricane season. An unusual pattern has emerged ahead of Atlantic
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hurricane season. No tropical cyclones have formed anywhere in the
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Northern Hemisphere in twenty twenty five as of May sixteenth.
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This includes all tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones north
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of the equator in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
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The dry spell is not unprecedented. In fact, something similar
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happened last year ahead of a devastating hurricane season in
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the United States. The slow start has been matched five
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other times nineteen seventy three, nineteen eighty three, nineteen eighty four,
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nineteen ninety eight, and twenty twenty four in the last
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seventy five years. According to Colorado State University meteorologist Phil
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klotts Back, most of those years ended with below average
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seasons for the Northern Hemisphere. Overall, on average, he said,
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three and a half storms typically would have formed by now.
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Typically the Atlantic, Eastern North Pacific, and North Indian Ocean
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are pretty quiet through mid May, Klotzbach said, so when
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the western North Pacific tends to be the primary contributor
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to named storm activity this time a year. He told
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USA Today the quiet in the Western Pacific is due
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to unusual wind patterns near the Philippines. Quote. This wind
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pattern creates anti cyclonic flow, which is not supportive for
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storm formations, he said. Klotzbach said that it's hard to
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say if this means anything for the rest of the season.
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Quote for example, the number average number of Northern Hemisphere
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named storms in a season of sixty two. Here are
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the final Northern Hemisphere named storm totals for the other
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years that had no named storms through May sixteenth. In
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nineteen seventy five, there were nineteen seventy three. Rather, there
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were forty five, in nineteen eighty three, fifty one, nineteen
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eighty four, sixty five, nineteen ninety eight, fifty three, and
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in twenty twenty four fifty eight. Four of the five
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years ended up with below average Northern Hemisphere named storms,
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but twenty twenty four were just slightly below normal. He said.
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Nineteen seventy three was an unusually quiet year for storms
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in the Northern Hemisphere. That year set a record for
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the latest first storm. Klotzback said, Ava formed in the
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eastern North Pacific on June tewid that year. What about
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Southern Hemisphere storms? Unlike the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere
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has been quite busy during the twenty twenty four to
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twenty five season. Southern Hemisphere storms include those that threaten
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locations such as Australia. Thirty one Southern Hemisphere named storms
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have formed so far, while the average is twenty five
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named storms. What's the forecast for the rest of May.
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Meteorologist Ryan Maui, also on X said that while an
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early season tropical storm is possible in the Eastern Pacific
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through the end of May, top weather models show a
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quiet pattern for the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Well
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that'll be all for today's Diary of Science and Nature.
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Your reader was Kelly Taylor. Thanks for listening, and I
27:48
invite you to stay tuned for the Health Corner on
27:52
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