Appropriate timing of land management techniques can help support pollinators

Adding garden beds with blooming plants to an existing lawn can support bees

Blooming wildflowers, shrubs, and trees can provide the nectar and pollen these pollinators need but do not get from grass. Other tips include leaving patches of bare soil for ground-nesting bees to lay their eggs and filling birdbaths with large pebbles for them to land and drink from safely.

Explore guides on pollinator-friendly plants native to where you live

Pollinators have co-evolved alongside specific plants from their natural habitat and see their populations increase in environments with these native flora. This collection offers recommendations for regional plants that can provide nectar and pollen, serve as host plants for caterpillars, and offer nest sites for specialist bees.

Agricultural intensification has accelerated declines in pollinator populations

The practice of using farmland more frequently to increase its yield increases the number of residual pesticides and decreases botanical biodiversity. These processes tend to decrease carrying capacity for pollinators by eliminating food sources and nesting habitats.

Efficiency of commercial honeybees may exacerbate population declines in native bees

Commercial beekeepers are increasingly breeding honeybees on public lands, raising concerns among environmentalists that they’ll compete with and introduce new diseases to already threatened native pollinator populations. However, native species alone are often unable to meet the pollination levels required to meet necessary crop yields.

Bees are crucial for pollination and food security

When animals and insects pick up the pollen of flowers and spread it, they allow plants, including many food crops, to reproduce. The most common pollinator is the bee, but bees are at risk from pollution and pesticides.

Solar panels can create pollinator-friendly habitats by protecting flowering plants

An example of agrivoltaics, where land is used for solar energy production and agriculture, the panels provide clean energy while also shading plants from excessive sunlight. Pollinator-friendly plants can improve water quality and reduce soil erosion by obstructing the wind.

In Amsterdam, planting organic flowers has increased native bee diversity by 45%

The citywide effort is an example of rethinking conventional agricultural methods, which rely on monocropping and heavy chemical use. Cover crops—plants grown to suppress weeds, prevent erosion, and attract pollinators rather than to be harvested—have also shown environmental benefits, despite not being sold for profit.

The most effective method of managing invasive species is prevention education

Controlling a spread after a species has become established in an area is much more costly and time-consuming than early detection and rapid response. Control methods include the purposeful introduction of predators, the use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides, and physical collection and removal.

Learn how environmental conditions are optimized to increase bioremediation efficacy

Through biostimulation, Indigenous microbes are provided with moisture, nutrients, or oxygen to prevent their death and ensure optimal progression of their biochemical reactions. Bioaugmentation can introduce new microbial cultures to target specific compounds not natively found in the environment, while landfarming can spread or aerate contaminated soil to improve access to contaminants.

Watch insects and animal pollinators in slow motion

Louie Schwartzberg's "Moving Art" series showcases slow-motion footage of oceans, forests, deserts, flowers, and more. In this excerpt, organisms such as bats, monarch butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds are shown interacting with one another and with flowering plants.

Biosphere 2 revealed limitations in maintaining wildlife in unfamiliar environments

Trees appeared to become weak and more prone to breaking because a lack of wind caused them to no longer need to develop stress wood. The extinction of pollinators—potentially due to an explosion in the population of longhorn crazy ants—was also unexpected.

The ritual burns of California forests

Many ecosystems around the world have adapted to regularly occurring wildfires. Some human cultures saw the advantage of such fires and integrated them into their community rituals. Learn about similar tribal traditions looking to better manage California's forests today.

The symbol of the American lawn

Trimmed, pure green lawns are the norm in US yards and require regular mowing, fertilizing, and weed whacking to keep in order. They are cherished for their simple aesthetic and as a soft area for walking or playing near the house. Still, they are also so-called monoculture zones with only one plant species, lacking biodiverse resilience. This article traces the history of the lawn in America and the contemporary debates over its future.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

How to have a bug-free backyard dinner

An entomologist’s advice for bug-free backyard barbecues, including tips on the use of chemicals and how fans are pretty effective at keeping bugs away.

The common 'Three Sisters' mound-planting system used by natives

In the 17th century, Native Americans cultivated a three-plant combination of corn, beans, and squash—a symbiotic tradition dating back hundreds of years. The corn allowed the beans to climb, the beans fertilized the plants by extracting nitrogen from the air, and the squash leaves protected the soil and preserved moisture. Learn more about the tradition here.

Gut microbiome rewrites may help reduce allergies

Researchers are investigating different strategies to determine if one day they could give people a combination of gut microbes to set them up for fewer allergies. In animal research, scientists have already prevented severe allergic responses in allergy-prone mice—supplying them with gut microbes from healthy, non-allergic human babies.

The Leopold Report was an early blueprint for ecosystem management

The 1963 report, officially known as Wildlife Management in the National Parks, recommended wildlife management and ecological preservation. In 2012, a follow-up report built upon the original paper to guide future park service policies based on scientific findings.

Fireflies light up to provide mating signals and warnings to predators

Variations in the illumination patterns and flight paths while emitting light have been observed across firefly species. Some species instead rely on pheromones if they are primarily active during the day or have lost the ability to illuminate.

National parks boost local economies, but they can also harm local land

Increased tourism and job creation are big wins for the small towns outside national parks, but the influx of visitors can also have negative effects, including wildlife destruction and overdevelopment.

'The bounty of nature is also one of the deep needs of man.'

- Lady Bird Johnson (1912-2007)

Tax-loss harvesting is a way that some people attempt to trim their tax bills

Specifically, tax-loss harvesting is a way to lower your tax bill by offsetting investment gains with losses. It can be tricky to practice and comes with a few important rules, so working with an expert may be your best bet before Tax Day.

Plant hormones and growth regulators guide growth stages and responses in plants

Plants naturally produce hormones like auxin and gibberellins, while humans apply synthetic or extracted growth regulators to control plant development. These substances influence processes like flowering, root growth, dormancy, and ripening—even in very small doses.

The fragility of the alpine tundra

This article takes readers into Rocky Mountain National Park's Alpine Tundra, an area above the tree line where only specially adapted plants can survive. One such plant is the cushion plant, which avoids strong winds by growing close to the ground...

The EPA works directly with Indigenous nations to protect native lands

Through the National EPA-Tribal Science Council, the agency works directly with federally recognized tribes, supporting air and water monitoring, pollution cleanup, and environmental restoration. Special grant programs also exist to enable tribes to develop their own environmental programs and enhance their technical capacity.

Experts recommend putting aside between 1% and 4% of the home’s value for maintenance

Experts say homeowners should consider the home’s age and condition, and its location’s climate, when deciding exactly how much to put aside for repairs and maintenance. They also recommend setting aside more money for those who expect to hire others for home repairs rather than doing it themselves.

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

Coral polyps reproduce via broadcast spawning, where entire reefs simultaneously release reproductive cells for about one hour, once a year.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

Poison ivy can cause rashes year-round since all parts of the plant contain urushiol, the oil that triggers our allergic response.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones in communities in West Africa have hampered Ebola responses.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.