What will the first weed degree program in the U.S. look like?

Check out the curriculum for the nation's first cannabis-focused bachelor's program.

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  • Colorado State University-Pueblo will offer the first undergraduate weed degree in the U.S.
  • The program will include intensive coursework focused on chemistry and advanced biology.
  • Cannabis has become one of the fastest-growing job markets.
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Could genomics solve the climate change crisis?

Technological advances in molecular biology could help fix the planet.

  • Genomics is the study of genes and their functions. The branch of molecular biology presents the idea that the genome can be manipulated for added resilience against harm.
  • Yale professor and editor Daniel C. Esty argues that genetic modification in nature as a way to improve sustainability should be seriously considered.
  • In the book A Better Planet: Forty Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future, Esty and several authors offer actionable solutions for dealing with greenhouse gases, including genomic intervention in nature.
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House plants do not purify the air, study shows

Beautiful? Yes. Air purifiers? Not so fast.

Photo by Katya Austin on Unsplash
  • A new meta-analysis at Drexel University shows that house plants are not effective for purifying the air of toxins.
  • A 1989 NASA report that claimed indoor plants are purifying was not conducted in realistic living conditions.
  • Indoor plants have positive effects on our mental health, just not in regards to air quality.
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World’s oldest forest found in New York state​

The 385-million-year-old fossils show that trees evolved modern features millions of years earlier than previously estimated.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
  • The world's oldest forest fossils were located in an abandoned quarry near Cairo, New York.
  • Research of site specimens suggests that the forebearers to modern plants evolved much earlier than expected.
  • The findings help scientists better understand how trees advanced life's evolutionary trajectory to land during a critical period.
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Amazon fires are destructive, but they aren’t depleting Earth’s oxygen supply

Contrary to popular belief, the Amazon rainforest does not produce 20% of our planet's oxygen.

JOAO LAET/AFP/Getty Images

Fires in the Amazon rainforest have captured attention worldwide in recent days. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in 2019, pledged in his campaign to reduce environmental protection and increase agricultural development in the Amazon, and he appears to have followed through on that promise.

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