Martha Cooper

Jul 17, 2024 | blog.nature.org | Cara Byington |Christine Peterson |Martha Cooper |Matthew Miller

As climate change and human water use rapidly deplete water resources around the world, a first-of-its-kind global map shows that more than half of the world’s groundwater-dependent ecosystems are in areas with known groundwater loss, and likely at risk. Published in Nature, this is the first time groundwater-dependent ecosystems in dryland regions have been mapped on a global scale.

Apr 4, 2024 | blog.nature.org | Matthew Miller |Kris Millgate |Martha Cooper |Justine E Hausheer

A new global study finds that the benefits of diversified agriculture are abundantly clear, whether for food security, biodiversity or the bottom line. Agricultural diversification—those that intentionally diversify crop and noncrop, and livestock species—is often presented as being good for biodiversity. But it’s also commonly perceived as having negative consequences like reduced yields.

Apr 1, 2024 | blog.nature.org | Matthew Miller |Justine E Hausheer |Kris Millgate |Martha Cooper

I’m on a quest to catch a fish in each of the 50 U.S. states – and to use each adventure as a means to explore conservation, the latest fisheries research and our complicated connections to the natural world. I grasp one end of the canoe, sweat already beading on my forehead on this humid morning. Steve Sammons has the other end of the canoe. Between us is a near-vertical stretch of rock. I hear Steve muttering profanities as we attempt to get the canoe into water. He pauses for a second.

Feb 19, 2024 | blog.nature.org | Justine E Hausheer |Kris Millgate |Martha Cooper |Matthew Miller

A new database of global seabird restoration projects allows scientists to analyze trends and provides a tool for practitioners looking to effectively restore seabirds and coastal ecosystems. Led by Dena Spatz, a senior conservation scientist at Pacific Rim Conservation, researchers built a database of seabird restoration activities from around the world.

Jan 30, 2024 | blog.nature.org | Christine Peterson |Justine E Hausheer |Matthew Miller |Martha Cooper

For humans, sleep is critical to not just our sanity but our survival. It’s when our brains and bodies rest and recharge. It’s so important, in fact, we’ve been studying how and why we sleep, and telling stories about how and why we sleep, for hundreds if not thousands of years.  But contrary to popular opinion, says UCLA sleep research Jerome Siegel, not all animals sleep, at least not the way we think of it. And many of the ones that do sleep catch their z’s in very different ways than we do.