Author Archives: Rolf Schuttenhelm

Unravelling CCD: virus and fungus combinedly killing bees?

The mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder, a sudden die-off of bee populations that spread across the world since 2006, is slowly being solved. CCD may not have one single cause, but rather multiple factors adding up, including pollution and diseases … Continue reading →

Today’s paradox: tropical ectotherms don’t like warming

Ecological damage of climate change is expected to be highest where the changes are most profound. That is, due to albedo feedbacks, at very high latitudes and at very high altitudes. So species loss is expected to be highest in … Continue reading →

Graphene wins Nobel Prize

We recently reported on Andre Geim, the Dutch physicist (positions at Manchester, Nijmegen, Delft) of Russian descent, who discovered the one-atom-thick carbon-based material graphene – together with his colleague Konstantin Novoselov. Today the Nobel Prize Committee awarded the Nobel Prize … Continue reading →

Plant life does not escape 6th mass extinction

Twenty percent of the world’s plant species are directly threatened with extinction – mostly due to human activity, says a group of scientists from Britain’s Botanic Gardens at Kew, London’s Natural History Museum and the International Union for the Conservation … Continue reading →

Shellfish malformed by ocean acidification

A publication in next week’s edition of PNAS magazine elaborates on the effects of continued acidification of ocean waters on shellfish. Larvae of two species of shellfish commonly found along the American East Coast (Northern quahog and Atlantic bay scallop) … Continue reading →