Water Blogged

Antarctic Lake Serves as a Rare Modern Analog to Ancient Ecosystems

Antarctica's lake Untersee provides a peek into the past and a preview of life on Mars. As Dale Andersen descends with his tether to study the lake's bottom, its real uniqueness shows—countless conical stromatolites like a vast parking lot full of traffic cones. The one-to-two-foot-high cones have been formed over eons, layer by sub-millimeter layer, by a consortium of cyanobacterial species dominated by a genus called Phormidium. Read the Full Story

Epic Swim Highlights the Beauty and Pollution in Europe’s Second-longest River | Clean Danube

The Danube is a muscular source of power and a haven for fish, birds, and amphibians. It is also the conduit for four metric tons of microplastics a day that wash into the Black Sea. Just ask Andreas Fath, "the Swimming Professor" of Germany's Furtwangen University, who swam all its 2,700 kilometers (1,678 miles) in a monumental 57-day journey to raise awareness of pollution in the Danube. Read the Full Story