Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.

Invasion of the earthworms! It sounds like a bad Hollywood movie, but science can be stranger than fiction.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Chelsea Volpano’s coastal erosion study began drawing attention on social media last week, but not for the reasons you would expect.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison student was gathering the final data set for her Ph.D. on October 30 when her small boat stopped responding to the remote control.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.

Thirteen years ago, a live bighead carp was caught within swimming distance of Lake Michigan.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.

The wolves of Isle Royale recently came within a hair’s breadth of dying out — victims of years of inbreeding.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.

A tiny lake just an hour’s drive from Toronto made headlines earlier this summer as the best place in the world to illustrate the dawn of a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Nearly 90 percent of water samples taken from the Great Lakes over the last ten years exceed safe levels for wildlife. Researchers from the University of Toronto and the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development came to this conclusion after conducting a comprehensive review of microplastics studies.

At the levels surveyed, the researchers say fish and other aquatic wildlife are at risk of ingesting enough microplastics to fill their guts, diluting their regular food and its nutritional value.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.

On July 26, 2010, people living along Talmadge Creek in Marshall, Michigan awoke to a sharp, sickening smell.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.

Earlier this year, a group of Michigan scientists published a study in The Journal of Great Lakes Research entitled “Extant mat microbes synchronize vertical migration to a diel tempo.”

Got that?

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.

The last couple decades have been good to southern flying squirrels in the upper reaches of the Great Lakes.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

In his book “Great Lakes Champions: Grassroots Efforts to Clean Up Polluted Watersheds,” John Hartig looks at how 14 Great Lakes residents are working to restore some of the region’s most degraded areas. While significant challenges remain, there is much to celebrate, including the return of sentinel fish and wildlife species, lower contaminant levels in fish and wildlife populations, and greater public access to these waters.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.