Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

As a child, I never dreamed that someday I would buy a bottle of water in an airport. What commodities will be marketed next? Fresh air? Aerated soil?

Natural products obtained without monetary costs from healthy ecosystems are part of a bountiful harvest called natural capital or ecosystem services. It includes resources (air, water, fish, oil, minerals, etc) as well as living systems (coral reefs, wetlands, rain forests, etc).

An amazing feature of ecosystem services is that they function while we sleep: Streams purify water by flowing over rocky surfaces; earthworms aerate our soils without the use of fossil fuels and heavy machinery; forests produce oxygen, medicines and energy from sunlight. Even more amazing is the fact that these ecosystem services are free – but only if we leave portions of the landscape alone to function naturally.

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Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

Thanks to first lady Michelle Obama’s healthy-eating campaign, and to a number of recent medical reports, Americans are looking more closely at their diets. Most countries have evolved a cuisine over many centuries based on their environment and culture. The French stay healthy with a long-standing affection for red wine, cheese, fresh bread and olive oil; Asians remain slim and relatively free of heart attacks with fish and rice. But in the past few decades, Americans have witnessed radical dietary shifts, ranging from obsessions for fast foods, low cholesterol, fiber, omega-3 and flax. What next?

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Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

What do a young Philippine clothing designer, an American social networker, an Indian medic, an Ethiopian teacher and a Nigerian farmer have in common?

They are all winners of the first-ever Rolex Young Laureates Awards for Enterprise (http://young.rolexawards.com). Though best known for their watches, Rolex also funds creative and innovative global environmental leaders, and they recently honored the emerging generation (also known as Generation Z).

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Published in the journal Science on February 24, 2012:

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Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

It sounds like a horror movie – billions of miniature, bear-like creatures crawling through the lawns and shrubbery in Raleigh, Charlotte and Durham. Neither drought nor flood nor extreme temperature will kill them. During a heat wave, they curl into a ball and wait for better conditions to “come back to life.” They dominate their miniature kingdom of soil, leaf surfaces and water droplets. These invincible, microscopic beasts are… tardigrades.

Tardigrade means “slow walker.” They’re also called water bears, bears of the moss or moss piglets. They thrive in water, coral islands, moist tropical forests, and even the extremes from deserts to Antarctic slopes. Dispersed on all seven continents, tardigrades may be the most common organism of N.C.

Fortunately, they are quite harmless. But it’s good to know and appreciate who lives in your neighborhood.

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Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

Christmas lists abound with “stuff” that is usually manufactured, bought, discarded, and ultimately piles up in landfills. With the current economic downturn, what about a gift list centered on special places in nature that inspire and nurture our souls?

Many special natural places are close to home and essentially free; others require a veritable expedition outfitted to reach remote destinations. But near or far, the natural world engages our five senses and restores our spirits in ways that are difficult to equal in dollars and cents. Here is a survey of some North Carolina residents and their favorite natural places – some local, some global. On behalf of Nature’s Secrets, please enjoy your favorite spots in nature with loved ones this holiday season.

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Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

Cutting-edge technology helps save rhinos in India

The North Carolina Museum of Natural History’s new Nature Research Center, opening spring 2012 in Raleigh, will employ cutting-edge technologies to convey scientific discoveries to students, policy-makers and citizens.

Using remote cameras in distant field sites such as forest canopies, the NRC will share discoveries around the planet with audiences and classrooms throughout North Carolina and beyond. These technologies educate people via new programs about how science works. They are already providing solutions to conservation challenges.

In remote northeastern India, intel sleuths have been deployed to eradicate rhino poaching. Kaziranga National Park is in Assam province, not far from Bangladesh; it is home to more than two-thirds of the world’s one-horned rhinos. During the past decade alone, 66 rhinos were killed by poachers. At that rate, the world’s remaining 2,850 one-horned rhinos (of which India is home to 2,390) will disappear by 2050.

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Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

Yttrium, promethium, europium and luterium may sound like mythological characters, but they’re rare-earth elements that comprise the backbone of new technologies for the 21st century.

Their discovery in recent years has advanced the electronics industry. Yttrium, when alloyed with other elements, forms part of aircraft engines; promethium is an essential component of long-lived nuclear batteries; europium powers images in flat-screen televisions; and luterium detects radiation in PET scanners used for medical research. Many new technologies owe their success to rare-earth elements.

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Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

The U.S. military is moving aggressively to reduce its energy “bootprint.”

The Department of Defense is our country’s largest single consumer of energy, using more than 300,000 barrels of oil per day. With an armored Humvee averaging only 4 miles per gallon, and with a gallon of fuel costing $400 to reach our troops in Afghanistan, the military budget is crippled by energy inefficiencies. But new initiatives for military installations include solar power units, purifying stagnant water, solar tents and LED lights. At Fort Drum, N.Y., one of the world’s largest solar installations currently heats the base. A fleet of new clean-energy naval vessels, dubbed “Prius of the oceans,” will save millions of taxpayer dollars. The military’s goal is to achieve 25 percent renewable energy by 2025.

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Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

The time was 4:24 a.m. I sat upright in bed, awakened by an inspirational choir that just burst into sound. Vacationing in the woods of northern Vermont, I took a June sojourn back to my childhood forests of New England. Sleeping until noon is an obvious privilege of vacation, but late sleepers in the short Northern summer miss one of the best musical events of the year.

The red-breasted robin was the first songster on nature’s program. Opening up the dawn chorus with a melodious, cheerful message, it announced to the forest denizens that sunrise was imminent. Soon, that dawn harbinger was joined by other robins, a trio in full song. As if not to be outdone, the white-throated sparrows trilled, “Oh sweet Canada, Canada.” Almost 150 years after Thoreau described New England songbirds, their melodies have remained remarkably true over time.

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