For tens of thousands of years, the warm, sticky natural asphalt that occasionally bubbled to the Earth’s surface in the area now called Los Angeles was a death sentence for some ice age animals. Woolly mammoths, camels, rabbits, horses, bison, sloths, rodents, snails, turtles, birds and saber-toothed cats perished after becoming mired in the liquid […]

What can you learn by studying 100 years of academic writing about rural education in the United States? For Catharine Biddle, assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Maine, it’s this: the more things change, the more they stay the same. “If you look at the case we follow, it’s like the conversations […]

Free-floating ocean phytoplankton, often too small to be seen without a microscope, are a big deal. The tiny marine plants consume carbon dioxide and produce half of all the oxygen molecules that people and animals breathe. And, as the base of the ocean food web, they’re nourishment for zooplankton, fish, seabirds and whales. To gain […]

New research from the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (MSLS) confirms that persons who eat chocolate at least once a week have a lower prevalence of diabetes and are at lower risk for a diagnosis of diabetes four to five years later. The study also indicates that the relation between the frequency of chocolate consumption may be […]

University of Maine Professor of Physics R. Dean Astumian has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His selection brings the number of full-time UMaine faculty members named AAAS Fellows to 10. Annually, AAAS, the world’s largest scientific society, recognizes researchers who advance scientifically or socially distinguished science. […]

A University of Maine glaciologist discovered icebergs likely contribute more meltwater to Greenland’s fjords than glaciers do, which can slow the melting rate of glaciers and potentially influence ocean circulation and climate. Greenland, the world’s largest island, is almost entirely covered by a permanent ice sheet that has been shrinking due to warming temperatures in […]

A half-century of global ocean research indicates local management is key to sustaining kelp forest health. Kelp  — large brown seaweed or alga  — provides food or habitat for a number of species, including fish, sea urchins and lobster, says Bob Steneck, a University of Maine oceanographer and one of 37 scientists who took part […]

Paul Mayewski, director of the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute (CCI), participated in the opening panel discussion of the Maine-Arctic Forum held in Portland on Oct. 3. The Maine-Arctic Forum coincided with the intergovernmental Senior Arctic Officials Meeting of the Arctic Council being held in Maine throughout the remainder of the week. The panel […]

Without a sound, safe and efficient transportation infrastructure, Bill Davids says we wouldn’t have an economy. “That truck that just drove over this bridge carrying goods to wherever wouldn’t be able to make its trip; the ambulance wouldn’t be able to get to your house; you wouldn’t be able to get to work in the […]