Category Archives: Wildlife and Habitat

‘Noah’s Ark’ Takes On Water

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‘Noah’s Ark’ Takes On Water

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, built into a hillside in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard far above the Arctic Circle, is often described as humanity’s last hope against extinction after some global crisis.  While there are more than 1,700 gene banks around the world that keep collections of seeds, all of them are vulnerable to war, natural disasters, equipment malfunctions, and other problems.  Except the Svalbard vault – or so we thought.  It has been dubbed the “Noah’s Ark” of seeds and a last chance for the world to regenerate if the worst should come to pass.  It’s mission is to keep the world’s seeds safe. 

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Natural Mosquito Repellents

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Natural Mosquito Repellents

With summer comes mosquitoes and our desire to keep them away from us.  The most common repellents are based on the chemical DEET, which unfortunately has been found to have several health and safety problems.   Up to 15% of DEET is absorbed through the skin directly into the bloodstream.  Diethyl-meta-toluamide, the chemical name for DEET,… Continue Reading

Carbon From The Alaskan Tundra

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Carbon From The Alaskan Tundra

The soils that encircle the northern reaches of the Arctic are a vast repository for carbon in the form of undecayed organic matter from dead vegetation.  The enormous amount of material trapped in the permafrost contains enough carbon to double the current amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. Continue Reading