Títulos en Medioambiente

Moving at glacier pace once meant to move hardly at all. No longer. Scientists in Greenland and in Peru are watching glaciers rapidly move forward or retreat, and even disappear at historic rates. Producer Dan Grossman follows several teams as they record the meltdown of some of the world's largest glaciers. He goes to Swiss Camp, in Greenland, run by researchers at the University of Colorado, where they measure the rumbles of glaciers as they move across bedrock.

In these 24 lectures, The Great Courses teams up with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, to take you behind the scenes of the animal world. Dr. Moore has crafted a wonderful introduction to zoology that brings you up close and personal with a breathtaking variety of animal species through the eyes of a trained zoologist.

In 1993, a strange disease began to kill people in the Four Corners area of the Southwest near the Navajo Reservation. Before it was all over, 26 people were dead. The disease was traced to a group of viruses called Hanta viruses. Western interest in this group of viruses dates to the 1950s and the Korean War, where it infected UN troops. However some researchers believe it is endemic to the U.S. Producer Ann Finkbeiner travels to the region and talk with scientists, doctors and Navajo medicine men.

By looking at disease from the perspective of a microorganism, scientists have found that the main goal of any virus or other type of bug is to reproduce. Illness is just a side effect of the microorganism's efforts to multiply as much as it possibly can. Whether a virus is carried by water, air, or by other creatures, the way it spreads is a numbers game; the more hosts that are infected, the more it can reproduce, and the more it reproduces, the stronger it can become.

A frozen lake in the Arctic Circle is telling us how sensitive the poles are to climate change. Producer Moira Rankin takes us to Lake El'gygytgyn and reports on the 3.6 million year record of climate change that scientists have unearthed from the lake's bottom. Chief scientist Julie Brigham-Grette from the University of Massachusetts details her findings that the slightest change in climate produces significant changes in the environment.

Across the United States, ecologists are battling to save endangered species from extinction. Scientists are now joining in the effort with sophisticated models that can be used to predict, and eventually prevent extinction. In this program, we travel to the Florida Everglades to see how the tiny Cape Sable Sparrow is faring despite an over-flooded environment, and to New England to find out how field mice are adapting after their habitat was destroyed.

The Eskimos in Alaska have a legend that they call "The year of no summer." One year, summer never came, winter just continued. No one could fish or hunt. And nothing could grow. The story is a creation myth. A few survivors were left to form what is now the Kauwerak tribe. Scientists are now looking at the legend as another piece of evidence for what they believe was a major climate shift in the Northern Hemisphere. Producer Dan Grossman takes on a journey to discover the truth behind the legend.

Thousands of varieties of plants are rapidly disappearing in the United States, especially non-hybrid types of garden vegetables. These are called heirloom varieties, and they're difficult, if not impossible, to buy from commercial sources. The seeds are instead often passed from gardener to gardener, often in families, and they represent an irreplaceable genetic heritage that is being lost. We examine the reasons these seeds are disappearing and the efforts underway to preserve them.

Earth and its neighboring planets Venus and Mars all began with similar temperatures, mineral compositions, and atmospheric gases that could have led to the formation of life. Earth was the only planet to pull off that trick, while climate change took Venus and Mars in less hospitable directions. It was much like the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"; Mars was too cold, Venus was too hot, but Earth was just right.

We travel to one of the most inaccessible parts of Indonesia, the mountainous area of Irian Jaya, which shares a peninsula with Papua, New Guinea. Here development is forcing some of the most rapid cultural, environmental and social changes occurring in any part of the world. As tribal peoples leave the Stone Age and leapfrog into the 20th century, tourist dollars turn tribal rituals into kitsch. To capitalize on vast natural resources, the government is building roads to connect the interior to the coastline.

To better put into perspective the various issues surrounding energy in the 21st century, you need to understand the essential science behind how energy works. And you need a reliable source whose focus is on giving you the facts you need to form your own educated opinions.

In western Paraguay fields that were once thick rain forests are now soybean plantations. The rows of soybeans stretch far into the distance, swaying hypnotically back and forth in the wind. This ocean of soy, though, is dotted with small islands--houses, actually, that belong to the subsistence campensinos who once eked out a living farming an array of crops like sugar, cotton, wheat, and maize. Now there is only one industrial harvest: soy.

Mountain lions are viewed as a charismatic symbol of the West, but when human populations expand closer and closer to the natural habitat of these big cats, life can get complicated for both humans and animals. Similarly, growing populations of Giant Canada Geese in Minnesota and deer in the Northeast are having an impact on communities in those areas.

The front line in the battle against mosquito-borne viruses is a bustling Peruvian metropolis on the Amazon River. Iquitos, Peru, home to nearly 400,000 people, is a living laboratory. Researchers there are tracing the spread of lethal dengue fever by going door to door in neighborhoods throughout the city. They're mapping the spread of the virus, as well as the mosquitoes that carry it. Producer Dan Charles follows researchers as they try to figure out what people can do to stop it.

Evolution is usually thought of a slow, undetected process, happening over hundreds, even millions of years. But when humans enter the picture, whether they apply new insecticides, over-fish or dump pollutants, evolution accelerates changes in nature ... to the point where humans now must devise ways to stop or reverse the process. Producer Barbara Bogaev presents three cases where just by making one move, we’ve inadvertently produced a counter effect.

In August 2003, Europe suffered the worst heat wave in at least 500 years. Forest fires raged in much of southern Europe, themselves causing deaths. Crops withered and trees died. One of the cities hit hardest was Paris. Although the high heat started in early August, it was nearly mid-month, after hundreds of people had been killed, before the French government recognized that the heat wave had turned deadly in Paris.

Sono più interessanti le storie belle o le storie tristi, quelle nere o quelle rosa? Le storie sono storie, e raccontano la vita.

Gerald Durrell's last book, The Aye-Aye and I, records his final animal-collecting expedition, a trip to Madagascar in 1990, and his efforts to save the elusive and mythical lemuroid known as the Aye-Aye. Prompted by the country's radical deforestation and slash-and-burn agriculture, Durrell, his wife, and their team of zoologists embark on a mission to capture and conserve the species - distinguished by its "giant, chisel-like teeth", "round, hypnotic eyes", and large "spoon-like ears".  

Sin dalla comparsa della vita sulla Terra, circa 3,6 miliardi di anni fa, è esistita una stretta connessione fra le trasformazioni del pianeta e l'evoluzione degli organismi viventi che hanno popolato i continenti. In alcuni momenti la vita è stata anche sul punto di scomparire dalla Terra, ma a queste fasi di cosiddette crisi biologiche ne sono seguite altre di esplosione evolutiva e diffusione di specie nuove. Il volume ripercorre le tappe principali di questa lunga storia.

Learn about the science of Wind Power with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Wind power is a limitless, non-polluting resource that currently contributes almost 2% of the world's energy supply. It's the fastest-growing resource market in the world and has become one of the biggest issues in the green movement. Importantly, there is enough of it in the atmosphere to meet the daily global energy demand five times over!