MIT News: Historic migration patterns are written in Americans’ DNA. “Studies of DNA from ancient human fossils have helped scientists to trace human migration routes around the world thousands of years ago. But can modern DNA tell us anything about more recent movements, especially in an ancestrally diverse melting pot like the United States? To find out, researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) analyzed data provided by more than 32,000 Americans as part of the National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project.”
migration
Phys .org: Roaming Russian eagles leave scientists broke
Phys .org: Roaming Russian eagles leave scientists broke. “Russian scientists tracking migrating eagles were forced to start a crowdfunding campaign after their birds wandered into Iran and foreign text messages from their tracking devices depleted the project’s budget.”
Noted: The little known story of the great Polynesian migration and its radical navigators
Noted: The little known story of the great Polynesian migration and its radical navigators. “The stories of how a team of three celestial navigators guided them 4300km across the Pacific Ocean, relying solely on the technology available to the Polynesian wayfinders who preceeded them, have been uploaded to the website, which was being furiously readied for launch as this story was published. Next, the film crew is shifting its attention from the sea to the land, travelling around the country to record stories of Māori innovation and create a digital archive as a gift to the nation.”
The Irish News: Citizen scientists track humpback whale travels with help of social media
The Irish News: Citizen scientists track humpback whale travels with help of social media . “Humpback whales are known to make vast migrations between their breeding and feeding grounds, and are increasingly being seen in UK seas. Now the first ever confirmed record of a UK-sighted whale hundreds of miles away in its summer feeding grounds in the high Arctic has been revealed, after its picture was spotted on Facebook by volunteer ‘citizen scientists’.”
The Independent: Social media helps prove UK animals are migrating north as climate warms
The Independent: Social media helps prove UK animals are migrating north as climate warms. “Dozens of animals, from birds to bats, are moving north across the UK as a result of climate change, scientists have discovered thanks to the help of social media.”
Tennessee Secretary of State: State Library & Archives Launches New Digital Project on Revolutionary War
Tennessee Secretary of State: State Library & Archives Launches New Digital Project on Revolutionary War. “As our nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, the Tennessee State Library & Archives has launched Patriot Paths, a new project that uses Revolutionary War pension records to map the paths that these soldiers took before and after their service. The project, which is still in progress, was unveiled by State Librarian and Archivist Chuck Sherrill at the National Genealogical Society’s recent annual convention.”
GhanaWeb: Manual, Database and Mobile Application on migration unveiled
GhanaWeb: Manual, Database and Mobile Application on migration unveiled. “The Media Response, a Non-Governmental Organisation has concurrently launched a training manual for journalists, database and mobile application on migration to enhance accurate and up-to-speed information dissemination on free movement of persons.”
Newswise: UF/IFAS Launches Gulf Marine Animal Tracking Website
Newswise: UF/IFAS Launches Gulf Marine Animal Tracking Website. “Animal migrations are some of the most dramatic natural events on the planet, from wildebeest on the Serengeti to monarch butterflies traveling to Mexico. In fish, an iconic example of migration is salmon returning to their birth sites in huge numbers to spawn before they die. However, there are still many unknowns in marine animal movement patterns, as their travel occurs underwater and often far offshore. Scientists at the University of Florida are changing this through a collaborative movement ecology research program that started in 2014. It’s called Integrated Tracking of Aquatic Animals in the Gulf of Mexico (iTAG).”
State Library of Western Australia: State Library’s oral histories recognised by UNESCO
State Library of Western Australia: State Library’s oral histories recognised by UNESCO. “The State Library of Western Australia’s Migration Voices collection of oral histories will be recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) under its Australian Memory of the World Program (AMW). The program is aimed at identifying and safeguarding significant documentary heritage materials of national significance to Australia.”
Care2: Protecting Migratory Land Animals is More Complicated Than We Thought
Care2: Protecting Migratory Land Animals is More Complicated Than We Thought. “Some species inherently know when and where to migrate, but a new study has offered a more complicated perspective for land animals by providing the first solid evidence that they need to learn about seasonal migrations from each other…. This study is part of a growing body of migration discoveries coming out of Wyoming, a lot of which will be put together in ‘Wild Migrations: Atlas of Wyoming’s Ungulates,’ due out this October, which details all of the state’s ungulate migrations, in addition to an online database that makes migration data widely available to interested stakeholders.”
‘ICE Is Everywhere’: Using Library Science To Map The Separation Crisis (Wired)
Wired: ‘ICE Is Everywhere’: Using Library Science To Map The Separation Crisis. “Since May, the US government had taken more than 2,300 kids away from their families as a result of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ new ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy, which calls for criminally prosecuting all people entering the country illegally…. Between the ad-hoc implementation of ‘zero tolerance’ and the opaque bureaucracy of the immigration system in general, migrant advocates, journalists, and even politicians struggled to find clear answers. [Alex] Gil, a father of two, knew they could be useful. As the digital scholarship librarian at Columbia University, Gil’s job is to use technology to help people find information—skills he had put to use in times of crisis before.”
Irish Times: Has your family an interesting Irish emigration story to share?
New-to-me, from the Irish Times: Has your family an interesting Irish emigration story to share? . “Story collectors will record the stories and photograph the objects on the day. These records will become part of the online Europeana Migration Collection, a European project that aims to show how the flow of people and ideas adds to the richness of culture around Europe and the world. The digital archive already contains 210,999 items on the topic of migration to, from and within Europe.”
All About Birds: Here’s How To Use The New Migration Forecast Tools From BirdCast
All About Birds: Here’s How To Use The New Migration Forecast Tools From BirdCast. “Migration is the best time to be a bird watcher. Twice a year, hordes of birds travel thousands of miles to grace your home turf for a few days or weeks. But they don’t come in a steady stream—more like a cascade of arrivals coming in flurries and pauses. That’s why even during peak migration, some days are dead while others are packed with new arrivals. Now, our BirdCast project can help you know when those flurries are about to arrive, so you can plan when to get up early. They’ve boiled down decades of migration science, coupled it with real-time weather data, and created two simple tools: a 3-day migration forecast, and an up-to-the-moment replay of migration activity.”
CNET: Google capturing spectacular million-crab march for Street View
CNET: Google capturing spectacular million-crab march for Street View. “Christmas Island, an Australian territory tucked just underneath Indonesia, is home to around 2,000 people. And crabs. Tens of millions of crabs. Each year, the females among these land crabs migrate to the sea, where they lay their eggs. It happens only once a year, but thanks to Google, you’ll soon be able to see it whenever you like.”
The Verge: This animated globe showing animal migration routes is mesmerizing
New-to-me, from The Verge: This animated globe showing animal migration routes is mesmerizing. “Animals have don’t need passports or visas, and they don’t care about countries’ borders — and that’s vividly illustrated by this animated globe. It shows migration routes for about 150 species based on tracking data shared by over 11,000 researchers from around the world. The pink lines follow the movement of animals covering at least 310 miles in one direction for at least 45 days, combining about 8,000 tracks collected over a period of about 10 years.”
