By Tim Stephens

Alaska’s salmon are getting smaller, affecting people and ecosystems

The size of salmon returning to rivers in Alaska has declined dramatically over the past 60 years because they are spending fewer years at sea, according to a new study. Salmon are critically important to both people and ecosystems in Alaska. Smaller salmon provide less food for people who depend on them, less value for commercial fishers, and less fertilizer for terrestrial ecosystems.

By Paul Koch

The Cost of Silence

The Cost of Silence, a new documentary by director Mark Manning, offers a more nefarious reading of the decision to use chemical dispersants by aerial spraying and injection during the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
Original story from Science.

By Ed Yong

The mysterious case of the ornamented coot chicks has a surprising explanation

As adults, American coots have a drab color scheme, with black bodies and white bills. Their chicks, however, have an aesthetic that’s part drunk friar, part disheveled lion, and part tequila sunrise. Their faces and bald pates are bright red, while their necks are encircled in scruffy yellow-orange plumes.
Original story from The Atlantic.