“It has been a catastrophic year.”
—Brian McNoldy, a senior research scientist at the University of Miami who specializes in tropical cyclone research, offers a frank assessment of 2024’s hurricane season to the Atlantic.
The big story
How environmental DNA is giving scientists a new way to understand our world
February 2024
Environmental DNA is a relatively inexpensive, widespread, potentially automated way to observe the diversity and distribution of life.
Unlike previous techniques, which could identify DNA from, say, a single organism, the method also collects the swirling cloud of other genetic material that surrounds it. It can serve as a surveillance tool, offering researchers a means of detecting the seemingly undetectable.
By sampling eDNA, or mixtures of genetic material in water, soil, ice cores, cotton swabs, or practically any environment imaginable, even thin air, it is now possible to search for a specific organism or assemble a snapshot of all the organisms in a given place.