Before being colonised by the Vikings, Iceland was lush with forests but the fearsome warriors razed everything to the ground and the nation is now struggling to reforest the island.
Environment
Jul 17, 2019
13
21885
Researchers at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and colleagues in Germany have taken a closer look at the birch tar used to affix Neanderthal tools and found a much more complex technique for creating the adhesive ...
The first humans who settled in Scandinavia more than 10,000 years ago left their DNA behind in ancient chewing gum, masticated lumps made from birch bark pitch. This is shown in a new study conducted at Stockholm University ...
Archaeology
May 15, 2019
3
1692
Neanderthals and other early humans produced a tarry glue from birch bark; this was long considered proof of a high level of cognitive and cultural development. Researchers had long believed that birch tar—used by the Neanderthals ...
Archaeology
Aug 20, 2019
1
1272
Certain fungi play a critical role in the ecological sustenance of forest trees. Ectomycorrhizal fungi are one such example. Commonly found on pine, oak, and birch trees, ectomycorrhizal fungi form a sheath around the outside ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 28, 2023
1
3143
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in The Netherlands has found evidence in small a cutting tool of Neanderthals using birch tar. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of ...
With the help of trees, microplastic-polluted soils could be remediated. For the first time, researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have shown that birch trees absorb microplastics ...
Ecology
Feb 21, 2022
0
56
Imagine not a white, but a green Arctic, with woody shrubs as far north as the Canadian coast of the Arctic Ocean. This is what the northernmost region of North America looked like about 125,000 years ago, during the last ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 17, 2021
99
1728
Carbon stored in Arctic tundra could be released into the atmosphere by new trees growing in the warmer region, exacerbating climate change, scientists have revealed.
Environment
Jun 17, 2012
2
0
When scientists and policymakers make tough calls on which areas to prioritize for conservation, biodiversity is often their top consideration. Environments with more diversity support a greater number of species and provide ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 25, 2024
0
294
