The reintroduction and success of sea otters in British Columbia was a story that initially satisfied everyone including conservationists and the natives. The adorable creatures once occupied much of Canada’s Pacific coast, before the fur trade for their exceptionally dense coats turned into a mass death sentence. But now, their population is threatening the availability…

When engineers lined canals across the dry American Southwest with concrete, they solved one problem while creating another. The hard surfaces helped stop precious water from disappearing into the soil, but they also stripped away the irregular edges, vegetation and sheltered spaces that aquatic life had used in the old earthen channels. Fish eventually returned,…

Long before astronauts ever plant a seed on the Moon or Mars, Nasa has been testing a much simpler question here on Earth’s doorstep: what happens when a corn seed germinates with no gravity to tell it which way to grow? Back in the early 1990s, researchers flew dry corn kernels aboard the space shuttle,…

A school bag is full of mud brought in by the recent flash floods, at the Shree Bagheswori Madhyamik School in Nepal. (Photo: AP) Morning assembly was about to begin at Bageshwori Higher Secondary School on August 26 when teachers learned that floodwaters were heading towards Baireni.Principal Prakash Malla told students to move to higher…