91��������

Nicholas School professor Stuart Pimm pioneers steps to protect threatened species

Even if you’re not an environmentalist, it’s hard to ignore the recent news on climate change: the Arctic tundra is thawing, glaciers melting, fires raging, and the Amazon region nearing a tipping point … and all this accelerating more quickly than scientists had expected even a few years ago.

PFAS’ complicated chemical structures ensure they almost never degrade. "We’re working to understand the health impacts, but the long-term effects of many PFAS chemicals are unknown,” says Heather Stapleton.

The last decade has brought more disruption than the energy sector in the United States has seen since the 1970s, when the Arab oil embargo led to long lines at gas stations, stoked energy security fears, and prompted Congress to pass fuel efficiency standards.

Heather Stapleton’s research has prompted tent manufacturers to reassess their approach to treating tents for flame resistance and to review related regulations.

As the year draws to a close, take a look back at the Nicholas School's most popular 10 research stories of 2019.

How does one manage an animal that some people believe is a god or must be protected at all costs because of its intrinsic value, while others are terrified of it because they compete with it for food and water or wish to sell ivory to feed their family?

Scientists from 91�������� have developed a model that can predict the amount of mercury being released into a local ecosystem by deforestation and small-scale gold mining.

Study co-authored by Brian Silliman highlights importance of estuaries as prime habitat for the endangered southern sea otter.

or the next few weeks, the new research vessel Shearwater has joined the sailboats, cabin cruisers, catamarans and fishing boats normally found at the town docks this time of year, but this “classroom at sea” and its crew will soon embark on its first big trip.

In the past decade, 467 species have been declared extinct. However, Stuart Pimm thinks scientists gained “a much better idea of how many species we’re losing, where we are losing them, and we have a better idea of how well we’re protecting them."

Of course there’s no place like home. But following a flood that upended scores of lives this year, one Mississippian asks, “Should people be able to live anywhere they want and be protected?”

Duke Geology Professor Emeritus Orrin Pilkey has long written about how to live with changing shorelines, but his latest collaboration with his son Keith Pilkey sounds the alarm on the coastal crisis looming for the country.

As the Trump administration scales back federal regulation of the waste from coal-fired power plants known as coal ash, a handful of Southern states have passed laws forcing utilities to clean up or contain the toxic mess. Other states, though, have done little or nothing.