Science

Will Wasps help to slow down the Emerald Ash Borer?

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SUNY ESF graduate student Mike Jones is studying parasitic wasp as predators of the emerald ash borer. Photo credit: Ellen Abbott, WRVO

 

By Ellen Abbott. (WRVO) Scientists are going to war against an invasive insect that’s decimating the ash tree population in central New York, by using one of its natural predators. While these tiny wasps may not stop the current infestation in its tracks, they may help deal with these kinds of things in the future. SUNY ESF graduate student Mike Jones spends a lot of time scraping the bark off of dead ash trees.

Sustainability & Environment

Explore the Intricate Life of a Tree using PBS Learning Media

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PBS Learning Media is a wealth of digital resources for educators to bring 21st century skills into the classroom. Help students appreciate the critical role trees play in sustaining life on Earth with this interactive from the National Arbor Day Foundation. Did you know that a tree’s rings can provide a record of the environmental factors that affected its growth and life cycle? The trunk of a tree functions as both a supporting structure and a pathway, transporting food down from the leaves through photosynthesis and conducting water and minerals up from the roots. View Interactive

In this interactive activity adapted from the National Arbor Day Foundation, explore the intricate life of a tree.

Science

Oops

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Today on Radio Lab, you come up with a great idea. You devise a plan. You control for every imaginable variable. And once everything’s in place, the train hops your carefully laid tracks. In this episode, one psychologist’s zeal to safeguard national security may have created a terrorist, while one community’s efforts to protect an endangered bird had deadly consequences.