Ag experts in Pacific Grove promote cover crops

 The Salinas Californian, January 2013

Two local agriculture gurus presented on the challenges of cover crops to a packed room of organic farmers Friday at the EcoFarm Conference in Pacific Grove. Cover cropping is a practice where specially chosen crops are planted during the off-season to help revitalize a field’s soil. At the end of the season, the cover crops are chopped down or, in the case of non-organic farming, killed with herbicide to release the gathered nutrients back into the soil.

Sustainable farming fans to gather for EcoFarm 2013 in Pacific Grove

 The Salinas Californian, January 2013

More than 1,500 ecology-minded farmers, marketers and activists from across the country will gather next week at the 33rd EcoFarm Conference in Pacific Grove with a goal of promoting fair and sustainable farming systems. The yearly event of workshops, lectures and social gatherings is put on by the nonprofit Ecological Farming Association.

Story on A1 of newspaper's print edition.

Fort Ord National Monument wins environmental award

 The Salinas Californian, January 2013

The natural beauty and dedicated volunteers at the Fort Ord National Monument were recognized this week by The Wilderness Society, which presented the 15,000-acre nature preserve with a CAPE award for excellence in the conservation of public land.

Lead story on A1 of print version.

Galactic surprise: New find overturns theories how our galaxy evolved

 Santa Cruz Sentinel, January 2013

Our galaxy wasn’t always the beautiful cosmic ballet it is today. Billions of years ago, the Milky Way was a chaotic jumble of stars and gas moving every which way. Only over time did the Milky Way morph into its current uniform shape, with flat arms of starlight reaching out from a galactic core. Now, a new NASA study shows this process happened much more recently than scientists had thought.

Featured in the Santa Cruz Sentinel (Pg. C1 & online, second most viewed story for January 2013) and the San Jose Mercury News (Pg. 1B & online).

Keeping Hammerheads Out of the Haul

 Science, November 2012

Special fishing weights could take a bite out of endangered hammerhead shark deaths. The global population of these distinctive sharks has fallen by about 89% in the last 2 decades, largely due to illegal poaching and accidental fishing bycatch. But now, scientists have come up with a shocking way to reduce this collateral damage: generating a mild electric field near fishing lines to keep the sharks away.

Investigating the Venus Flytrap’s Speedy Snap

 Inside Science, November 2012

Plants aren’t typically known for their speed, but the carnivorous Venus flytrap can close its jaw-like leaves in the blink of an eye. Charles Darwin once referred to the Venus flytrap as “one of the most wonderful plants in the world.” But despite the plant’s notoriety, its closing mechanism remains a mystery 250 years after its discovery.

Syndicated by Business Insider, Fox News and LiveScience, and others.

House windows may kill 22 million Canadian birds each year

 Mongabay, November 2012

The sickening thud of a bird crashing into a window is an all-too-familiar sound for many Canadian homeowners. Birds often mistake windows for openings, flying into the glass at full speed. A startling new analysis suggests about 22 million Canadian birds die each year from such crashes, researchers reported Sept. 4 in Wildlife Research.