Metcalf Institute provides science backgrounders on a variety of topics to help journalists, science communicators and others understand complex and significant environmental issues.

Tiny Microbes Have Big Effects

Scientists have recently learned about a hidden world of microorganisms, or microbes, that may control a lot of human and animal physiology, or the ways in which our body functions. Microbes promote human health, yet it remains undiscovered how microbes help animals in the wild. This backgrounder, by University of Rhode Island graduate students Kristen J. DeMoranville and Clara Cooper-Mullin,  highlights scientific understanding of how microbes influence seasonal events in wild animals, such as hibernation and migration, and explains how scientists are tackling this new and exciting frontier. Learn more.

Marine Disease and Climate Change

Marine ecosystems are ecologically, economically, and socially essential. While marine ecosystems offer robust benefits to humans, human impacts and environmental stressors can swiftly disrupt the complex web of life within ecosystems. One stressor of increasing concern amidst a changing climate is disease outbreak. Learn more about the connection between climate change and marine disease in this science backgrounder by University of Rhode Island graduate Melissa Hoffman, created for her SciWrite@URI internship.