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Drought

02/14/2020 / By Arsenio Toledo

Ancient ingenuity: Amazon tribes built fishponds to survive long droughts

According to a study led by researchers from the Federal University of Western Para in Brazil along with colleagues from France and Germany, ancient tribes that lived in the Llanos de Moxos region in Bolivia for thousands of years used a network of fish ponds to support their settlements. The researchers also believe that these fish ponds were used […]

11/28/2019 / By Edsel Cook

Understanding how resurrection plants control their water structure to survive long periods of drought

Resurrection plants possess the ability to survive for months or years of drought before making a full recovery once water becomes available again. Japanese and Bulgarian researchers learned how one such species pulled it off by comparing it with a non-resurrecting relative. Their findings showed that the Orpheus flower (Haberlea rhodopensis) got ready for dry […]

09/13/2019 / By Edsel Cook

Beneficial pests? Study shows that termites can alleviate the damage that droughts cause in tropical rainforests

Most termites don’t deserve the bad reputation meant for the few species that are actual pests. An international study found that the insects actually help preserve tropical rainforests during periods of drought. Termites thrive in tropical regions with plenty of cellulose-rich plants that they can digest. The “sheeting” structures they construct above ground let them travel through the rainforest in safety even during dry […]

07/20/2019 / By Edsel Cook

Mass grave discovered in Peru: Hundreds of children and animals were sacrificed in the 15th century

In Peru, researchers unearthed a 15th-century burial site that held the remains of hundreds of children and juvenile llamas. Both human and animal occupants of the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site were believed to be victims of a mass sacrifice for an ancient religion. The human remains numbered more than 140 and included both boys and girls. […]

07/19/2017 / By Isabelle Z.

No genetic engineering needed: Simple VINEGAR can help plants resist drought, scientists find

Scientists continue to genetically engineer plants that are becoming less and less like anything that nature ever intended, and in the process, many of them are overlooking some very useful natural alternatives. One such solution was recently discovered by researchers at Japan’s RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS). After studying a new biological pathway […]

04/11/2017 / By Vicki Batts

Clean water graphene breakthrough could allow millions to drink filtered seawater

As drought conditions continue to spread across the globe, from the 2015 drought in California that swept over 90 percent of the state to South American countries like Brazil, and even nations in Africa — it is clear that water is an ever-increasingly precious resource. Even though the Earth is approximately 70 percent water, the […]

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