Researchers are working to unravel the hidden biology of often-persnickety seeds as they age, sleep and awaken.
Learn more about this in our recent article republished by Smithsonian Magazine.
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Success for athletes who are physically at the top of their game may depend on their state of mind.
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsLessons from sports psychology researchScientists are probing the head games that influence athletic performance, from coaching to coping with pressure
Few animals seem less animal-like than sea cucumbers. The long, slender beings often appear motionless like the vegetable they resemble as they bask on the seafloor. They lack a brain, eyes or obvious features apart from a mouth and anus. But there’s a lot more to these simple creatures than meets the eye. https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/weird-wondrous-sea-cucumbers #MarineScience #KnowableMagazine #ScienceMastodon
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsWeird and wondrous sea cucumbersThese spiny or slimy ocean creatures display an astonishing diversity of appearances, behaviors and lifestyles. Many are increasingly threatened.
When managed in the right way, the farms that provide our morning brew can be a refuge for plant and animal biodiversity 
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsHow shade coffee lends conservation a handWhen managed in the right way, the farms that provide our morning brew can be a refuge for plant and animal biodiversity
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For more on recycling, check out our 2020 package:
Recycling meets reality
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2020/recycling-meets-reality-feature
Solving the growing plastics waste puzzle
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2020/solving-growing-plastics-waste-puzzle
Design for recycling
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2020/design-recycling
One bin future: How mixing trash and recycling can work
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2020/recycle-it-all
Rethinking recycling (VIDEO)
https://youtu.be/3zI4xXGmNPw
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For more on another microbial weapon, the CRISPR-like DNA-snippers called Fanzors, read Dance’s 2024 story 
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2024/crispr-gene-editing-therapy-systems-eukaryotic-cells #KnowableMagazine #ScienceMastodon
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsCRISPR gene editing: Moving closer to homeWith the first medical therapy approved and systems like CRISPR-Cas showing up in complex cells, there’s a lot going on in the genome editing field. Here’s our primer.
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Seed banking is surprisingly tricky. Little by little, research is revealing what keeps seeds in deep sleep, how they age and die, and how to revive them when their time has come.
More: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/seed-banking-to-preserve-rare-plants
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsThe surprisingly tricky art of seed bankingTo safeguard threatened plants, science must unravel the hidden biology of often-persnickety seeds as they age, sleep and awaken
Shared mobility is good for the environment, but not equal opportunity. What can be done to make travel easier for everyone?
Learn more about this in our recent article republished by Smithsonian Magazine.
On our radar: The owl man of Boston’s Logan Airport
“Every winter, Arctic snowy owls fly thousands of miles south to Boston Logan International Airport. And every season, Norman Smith drives less than an hour to try to snatch them up.”
Andrea Sachs, Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2025/04/23/snowy-owls-raptors-boston-airport/
PS: For more on the science of owls, check out our 2020 report: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/technology/2020/how-owls-fly-without-making-a-sound
The Washington Post · The ‘owl man’ is busy at Boston Logan Airport
“They’re not charismatic animals,” admits Annie Mercier, a researcher in marine biology at Memorial University in Canada. That doesn’t stop her from loving them. https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/weird-wondrous-sea-cucumbers #KnowableMagazine #ScienceMastodon
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsWeird and wondrous sea cucumbersThese spiny or slimy ocean creatures display an astonishing diversity of appearances, behaviors and lifestyles. Many are increasingly threatened.
#OPINION International commerce and travel bring ecological destruction to the world’s most cherished natural places. We need to do more to stop the assault.
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsForests are under attack from invasive speciesOPINION: International commerce and travel bring ecological destruction to the world’s most cherished natural places. We need to do more to stop the assault.
On our radar: Fighting bird flu with lasers
“Farmers know that wild birds such as geese, ducks, and seagulls spread bird flu along their migration routes, and lasers are becoming a go-to tactic for keeping them — and by extension, the virus — away from buildings or pastures.”
Daniel Walton, Ambrook Research
Ambrook · Attacking Bird Flu With Lasers - Ambrook ResearchFarmers worried about avian influenza are trying to zap the wild birds that carry it.
A carnivorous caterpillar dubbed the “bone collector” decorates itself with the body parts of its prey. Attaching an ant head here or beetle abdomen there seems to minimize the caterpillar’s own scent, allowing it to lurk in spiderwebs, where it can scavenge dead or dying insects.
McKenzie Prillaman reports at @ScienceNews
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/caterpillar-wears-body-part-insect-prey
Science News · This caterpillar wears the body parts of insect preyDubbed the “bone collector,” this caterpillar found on a Hawaiian island disguises itself while stalking spider webs for trapped insects to eat.
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Macabre outerwear isn’t the only trick caterpillars have up their sleeves; learn more from our recent story. 
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/meet-the-venomous-caterpillars
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsThe caterpillars that can kill youSome species make venoms that are deadly. With more research, those toxic compounds could yield useful medicines.
On our radar: Happy (belated) 35th birthday, Hubble!
“For 35 years Hubble has pushed the boundaries of possibility, transforming our view of the cosmos each time it beams the universe’s light down to Earth.”
Meghan Bartels, @SciAm
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-hubble-space-telescope-marks-35-years-from-launch/
Scientific American · NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Marks 35 Years from Launch
With the first medical therapy approved and systems like CRISPR-Cas showing up in complex cells, there’s a lot going on in the genome editing field. Here’s our primer.
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsCRISPR gene editing: Moving closer to homeWith the first medical therapy approved and systems like CRISPR-Cas showing up in complex cells, there’s a lot going on in the genome editing field. Here’s our primer.
Cataracts, pink eye and other ocular disorders are linked to heat, air pollution and higher UV exposure.
Sanket Jain
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsHow climate change threatens eye healthCataracts, pink eye and other ocular disorders are linked to heat, air pollution and higher UV exposure
How do trees find their sense of direction as they grow?
Researchers are getting to the root — and the branches — of how the grandest of plants develop.
Learn more in our 2020 report: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2020/bent-shape-rules-tree-form
Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsBent into shape: The rules of tree formHow do trees find their sense of direction as they grow? Researchers are getting to the root — and the branches — of how the grandest of plants develop.
How did a toxic fungus become soy sauce superstar?
Scientists think that the domestication of a microbe could go something like this:
It exists, along with other microbes, in the wild, where environmental factors such as temperature and humidity vary (bottom left).
Over time, it becomes adapted to the stable, comfortable food environment (middle) and eventually exists as a pure culture in a very controlled environment.
Learn more: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2024/evolution-of-koji-mold-soy-sauce-sake
