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Our food, water, and even moods are tied to seasonal cycles. But only a select few tune into nature's rhythms and take careful notes.

The Hudson River flows through much of the listening area of our flagship station. It is an extension of the Atlantic Ocean that flows from the Narrows in New York Harbor up through the Capital Region and beyond and it is linked to any changes in water levels in the Atlantic and around the globe.

In a win for New York State’s natural areas, new regulations have gone into effect banning a long list of plants and animals that have plagued our fields, forests, and freshwaters. 

Visitors to New York's Hudson River often comment on how "dirty" or murky its water appears. This murkiness is often taken as a sign of poor water quality. Why does the river look so muddy? And what does it mean?

In the 1960s, grass carp were brought to the U.S. from Asia to control weeds in southern fish-farming operations. Unfortunately, like so many other exotics, these fish escaped into the wild, and have been moving northward.

In the northeastern US, warmer spring temperatures are leading to shifts in the emergence of the blacklegged ticks that carry Lyme disease and other tick-borne pathogens.

There were once three hundred species of mussels in the United States. They supplied food to Native Americans and people harvested them for pearls and for mother-of-pearl to make buttons. Now, hardly anyone eats freshwater mussels and buttons are mostly made of plastic.

Most of us are familiar with the idea that we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to prevent global warming. Methane is also a problem, and we hear about it much less frequently. But compared to carbon dioxide, methane's impact on climate change is some twenty times more powerful.

The number of tick-borne illnesses reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the rise. Lyme disease leads the pack, with some 35,000 cases reported annually. 

When we hear about the devastation caused by invasive species like emerald ash borers and hemlock wooly adelgids, it is easy to believe that all invasives should be killed. But in fact many well established invasives have neutral or even positive qualities: witness the popular sport fish rainbow trout and large-mouth bass.

In the late 1800s, mute swans were brought from Europe to the eastern U.S. to enhance the beauty of ponds on private estates.

Increasingly, atmospheric chemists are understanding the importance of dust particles—known as aerosols—in our atmosphere. Many aerosols are rather large particles that fall out of the atmosphere fairly quickly.

EPA and U.S. Geological Survey scientists analyzed treated water samples from 25 U.S. utilities. They found that more than 1/3 contained chemicals not regulated by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Most of us have experienced a river shoreline— from a park, a train, or a boat. When we see where the water meets the land, how many of us have considered how modified shorelines influence river health?

Every winter, ski resorts groom trails using heavy machines that do a great job flattening the snow, but also compact the soil underneath. In the offseason, the compacted soil makes it hard for vegetation to regrow, so a lot of money is invested in re-vegetation.

A mosquito-borne virus that causes fever, headaches, and severe joint pain has spread to the Caribbean. Experts fear it's only a matter of time before it makes its way to the U.S. 

One of the key ways of mitigating climate change is to keep carbon away from the atmosphere where it is found as carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas. Carbon that is stored in trees and other woody plants, in soils, and in the oceans is said to be sequestered.

Technology has transformed our ability to understand rivers. Take the Cary Institute's longstanding scientific program on the Hudson River. 

Despite their familiarity, earthworms are an invasive species in America's northern temperate forests. They arrived in the mid-1800s, with the arrival of European settlers.

Human activities are not direct sources of a lot of ozone, but ozone concentrations increase to markedly unhealthy levels in many areas during the summer. About 30 years ago, atmospheric chemists solved this mystery.