As the world’s foremost expert on marine mammal ears, Darlene R. Ketten, Ph.D. and Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (www.whoi.edu), travels extensively to perform beached whale necropsies (autopsies on non-human animals) in countries from Africa to Australia. Her expertise is continuously requested on numerous boards, panels, committees and briefings such as at NATO’s Intergovernmental Confere...

Biodiversity” makes headline news regularly because, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), “there is a growing recognition that diversity – biological as well as linguistic and cultural diversity – is the lifeblood of sustainable development and human welfare. Diversity is key to resilience – the ability of natural and social systems to adapt to change . . . In the western world, we’ve become so far removed from biodive...

Mercury toxicity, unlike many food-borne illnesses such as salmonella poisoning, doesn’t receive much attention because its symptoms are much less obvious. However, mercury is an insidious silent killer. Known as “Hg” or “quicksilver,” mercury occurs naturally within the environment. Human-induced emissions – in particular, those from coal-fired power plants that are responsible for half the world’s mercury pollution – have significantly surpassed natur...