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Conflict Between Ranchers and Wildlife Intensifies as Climate Change Worsens in Chile
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Conflict Between Ranchers and Wildlife Intensifies as Climate Change Worsens in Chile

Scientists from the University of La Serena, Newcastle University, UK, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile surveyed ranchers to find out what they thought were the drivers of conflict between people and guanacos (a wild camelid species closely related to the Llama). Ranchers blamed the increased aridity for reducing the availability of pasture, which...

Is Human Cooperativity an Outcome of Competition Between Cultural Groups?
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Is Human Cooperativity an Outcome of Competition Between Cultural Groups?

It may not always seem so, but scientists are convinced that humans are unusually cooperative. Unlike other animals, we cooperate not just with kith and kin, but also with genetically unrelated strangers. Consider how often we rely on the good behavior of acquaintances and strangers– from the life-saving services of firefighters and nurses, to mundane...

Commercial Air Travel Is Safer Than Ever
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Commercial Air Travel Is Safer Than Ever

It has never been safer to fly on commercial airlines, according to a new study by an MIT professor that tracks the continued decrease in passenger fatalities around the globe. The study finds that between 2008 and 2017, airline passenger fatalities fell significantly compared to the previous decade, as measured per individual passenger boardings —...

Neandertals Went Underwater for Their Tools
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Neandertals Went Underwater for Their Tools

Neandertals collected clam shells and volcanic rock from the beach and coastal waters of Italy during the Middle Paleolithic, according to a study published January 15, 2020 in PLOS ONE by Paola Villa of the University of Colorado and colleagues. Neandertals are known to have used tools, but the extent to which they were able to...

Transformational Innovation Needed to Reach Global Forest Restoration Goals
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Transformational Innovation Needed to Reach Global Forest Restoration Goals

The U.N. and other international organizations agree that forest restoration is a critical part of the collective global effort to combat climate change, reduce extinctions, and improve the lives of people in rural communities. Dozens of nations have pledged to restore 230 million hectares of forest so far as part of projects such as the...

Tipping Mechanisms Could Spark Societal Change Towards Climate Stabilization
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Tipping Mechanisms Could Spark Societal Change Towards Climate Stabilization

Limiting global warming to well below 2°C requires a decarbonized world by 2050 at the latest and a corresponding global transformation of the energy and land use systems of societies across the world. To achieve this goal of net-zero carbon by 2050 emissions need to be cut by half every decade from now on. An...

Research Shows Potential for Zero-Deforestation Pledges to Protect Wildlife in Oil Palm
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Research Shows Potential for Zero-Deforestation Pledges to Protect Wildlife in Oil Palm

New research has found that environmental efforts aimed at eliminating deforestation from oil palm production have the potential to benefit vulnerable tropical mammals. These findings, published by Conservation Letters, were drawn from an international collaboration led by Dr. Nicolas Deere from the University of Kent’s Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), and including the University...

Nature Study: First Ancient DNA from West Africa Illuminates the Deep Human Past
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Nature Study: First Ancient DNA from West Africa Illuminates the Deep Human Past

A team of international researchers dug deep to find some of the oldest African DNA on record, in a new study published in Nature. Africa is the homeland of our species and harbors greater human genetic diversity than any other part of the planet. Studies of ancient DNA from African archaeological sites can shed important...

Caterpillar Loss in Tropical Forest Linked to Extreme Rain, Temperature Events
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Caterpillar Loss in Tropical Forest Linked to Extreme Rain, Temperature Events

Using a 22-year dataset of plant-caterpillar-parasitoid interactions collected within a patch of protected Costa Rican lowland Caribbean forest, scientists report declines in caterpillar and parasitoid diversity and density that are paralleled by losses in an important ecosystem service: biocontrol of herbivores by parasitoids. The study by University of Nevada, Reno researchers, published in Scientific Reports this week,...

Study Reveals Pre-Hispanic History, Genetic Changes Among Indigenous Mexican Populations
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Study Reveals Pre-Hispanic History, Genetic Changes Among Indigenous Mexican Populations

As more and more large-scale human genome sequencing projects get completed, scientists have been able to trace with increasing confidence both the geographical movements and underlying genetic variation of human populations. Most of these projects have favored the study of European populations, and thus, have been lacking in representing the true ethnic diversity across the...