Peatlands are boggy and soggy, and thick with thousand-year-old carbon stored in partially decomposed plant material. People used to avoid them — they were mucky and some even contained dead bodies that had been there for centuries or more. But lately, scientists have learned how important they are for storing carbon. Globally, peatlands contain more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem.

Today in The Conversation Canada Bin Xu from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology writes about the ways forestry, agriculture, resource extraction and wildfire, have damaged Canada’s extensive peatlands. In Alberta, Xu and other scientists are finding new ways to restore these regions with bryophytes, a group of small, ancient land plants, more commonly known as “peat moss,” and keep the carbon locked in the ground

Also today:

• The coronavirus pandemic has forced parents’ hands on data collection and privacy issues
• Glitchy screens, ‘cat lawyers’ and hot mics: The perils of Zoom courts
• Curious Kids: What is the sky?

All the best.