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Every spring and summer in the Rocky Mountains, meltwater from the snowpack trickles down into subalpine wetlands. From these vibrant wetlands, it makes its way to millions of homes, including cities such as Denver.
Earth’s natural filtering has long provided a supply of clean, fresh water. However, new testing has found a hidden risk in some of these wetlands. Conditions are just right for the production of methylmercury, and samples now show that higher concentrations of this potent form of toxic mercury are leaving some wetlands than entering it.
Eve-Lyn Hinckley, a biogeochemist at the University of Colorado, explains how methylmercury is produced in wetlands, why rising temperatures are increasing the risk, and what can be done to avoid harm to wildlife and humans.
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The drinking water used in many of Colorado’s cities passes through mountain wetlands.
Eve-Lyn Hinckley
Eve-Lyn Hinckley, University of Colorado Boulder
Subalpine wetlands in the Rocky Mountains are warming, creating the perfect conditions for producing methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin.
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Arts + Culture
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Tamilla Triantoro, Quinnipiac University
If a machine creates a video or a song that brings a person to tears, does it matter that the machine felt nothing?
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Health + Medicine
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Amiran Baduashvili, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Lisa Bero, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Manufacturers often make bold claims about how well these technologies work. Better testing would allow consumers and institutions to pick the most effective ones.
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Politics + Society
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Laura Beers, American University
Donald Trump aims to rewrite America’s official history, including at one of the nation’s key sites of public history-making: the Smithsonian. George Orwell would recognize Trump’s impulse.
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Charlie Hunt, Boise State University
The last eight members of Congress who died in office were Democrats. A younger generation of office seekers has raised their opponent’s age as a significant issue in their campaigns.
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Economy + Business
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Jake Rosenfeld, Washington University in St. Louis
Donald Trump isn’t the first GOP president to have courted segments of the labor movement, dividing a key Democratic constituency, only to take actions that make unions weaker.
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Sarah Webber, University of Dayton
Charities have no right to keep stolen money they receive as donations, even if they didn’t know it was stolen.
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International
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Anna Batta, Air University
The US president has announced that arrangements are in the works for a meeting between the wartime leaders.
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Drought adversely affects the mental health of Ghanaian farmers.
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