|
Top headlines
Lead story
The ocean affects your life every day, regardless of where you live. It provides us with food, energy, transport, tourism and a myriad of other benefits. But many human activities on the ocean take place far from shore and are hard to monitor, which means they’re hard to regulate.
In a newly published study, researchers used satellite images, GPS data and artificial intelligence to produce the most comprehensive maps of marine activities available. They showed some surprising things: For example, 75% of fishing vessels they detected were missing from public monitoring systems.
These new images “radically changed our knowledge about the scale, scope and location of fishing activity,” writes University of Wisconsin-Madison environmental economist Jennifer Raynor. The data will be made freely available and updated periodically, providing a valuable new resource for managing and protecting the oceans.
[ Miss us on Sundays? Get a selection of our best and most popular stories (or try our other weekly emails). ]
|
|
Jennifer Weeks
Senior Environment + Cities Editor
|
|
Many commercial fishing boats do not report their positions at sea or are not required to do so.
Alex Walker via Getty Images
Jennifer Raynor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
A new study reveals that 75% of the world’s industrial fishing vessels are hidden from public view.
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Benjamin Sonnenberg, University of Nevada, Reno
These tiny songbirds have extraordinary memories for the tens of thousands of spots where they hide food. But that doesn’t help when heavy snow blocks their access.
|
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Steffen W. Schmidt, Iowa State University
A political scientist traces the development of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses and how the small, rural state became influential in presidential politics.
-
Mike McDevitt, University of Colorado Boulder
Pundits are everywhere, giving their analyses of current events, politics and the state of the world. You’ll hear a lot more from them this election year. Is their rank opinion good for democracy?
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Kaitlin Woolley, Cornell University; Paul Stillman, San Diego State University
Long-term goals can be hard to stick to if the benefits are only way off in the future. Research suggests ways to focus on the here and now to help you ultimately achieve your more far-off targets.
-
Li Li, UMass Chan Medical School
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the promise of using mRNA as medicine. But before mRNA drugs can go beyond vaccines, researchers need to identify the right diseases to treat.
|
|
Ethics + Religion
|
-
Jonathan Weinkle, University of Pittsburgh
The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on how fragmented medical care can be. Relational, or person-centered, medicine is attempting to provide solutions.
|
|
Education
|
-
Charles J. Russo, University of Dayton
A law scholar examines a pair of cases that pit free speech rights against politicians’ online prerogatives.
|
|
Health + Medicine
|
-
Robin Gurwitch, Duke University
Talking about violence with teens and tweens is very different from the conversation you’ll have with younger children.
|
|
Podcast 🎙️
|
-
Gemma Ware, The Conversation
More Europeans are having to learn how to live alongside predators again. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
