Ashley Braun

Nov 18, 2024 | smithsonianmag.com | Ashley Braun

For many people, a bloom of mold symbolizes failure. But this small medallion of mold, its two dots of Penicillium notatum blossoming like fungal flowers frozen in eternal spring, represents an astounding success. It’s the mycelial spark that touched off an antibiotic revolution. Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming recognized the potential of Penicillium mold when he found it growing in his less-than-tidy lab at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London in 1928.

Jul 30, 2024 | popsci.com | Ashley Braun

Building new offshore wind turbines causes a raft of environmental problems. But once the machines are in the water, the toll on the environment drops considerably.

Jul 26, 2024 | hakaimagazine.com | Ashley Braun

Addressing the climate crisis—hitting net-zero global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050—calls for big solutions. Fossil fuel emissions need to drop, and alternative energy sources need to ramp up. And in pursuit of that goal, one literally big solution—offshore wind energy, with its many massive turbines—is set to get much, much bigger.

Jul 16, 2024 | treefrogcreative.ca | Ashley Braun |Derek Nighbor |Kevin Mason |Linda Coady

Fire Is a Major Threat to California Spotted Owls—but Could it Also Help Save Them? By Ashley Braun National Audubon Society July 15, 2024 Category: Forestry Region: United States, US West In recent years, California wildfires have taken on increased severity and reshaped the landscape.

Jul 15, 2024 | audubon.org | Ashley Braun

Wildfire is nothing new in California. In recent years, though, the blazes have taken on increased severity and reshaped the landscape. As more of their home turf transforms, California Spotted Owls—dark-eyed, mottled-brown raptors living in the state’s central and southern forests—have been feeling that heat: Destructive megafires burned more of their habitat in 2020 and 2021 alone than in the previous 35 years. Experts say these growing disasters represent the most urgent threat to the birds.