Birders around the state are encouraged to grab their binoculars, guidebooks, hiking boots and best birding friends for a weekend of non-stop “atlasting” from June 28-30. 

Brian Byrd, Western Carolina University’s mosquito expert and professor in the environmental health sciences program, along with Scott Huffman, professor in WCU’s Department of Chemistry and Physics, have been approved for grant funding from NCInnovation to continue their work in developing tools that utilizes spectroscopy to analyze vibrational signals from mosquitoes. 

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) is confirming 13 new cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) from deer samples submitted since July 1, 2023.

Although it has been four years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the effects are still being felt around the world, especially in rural communities that do not have adequate access to health resources. 

Researchers are concerned that the Appalachian cottontail’s population may be impacted by a fast-spreading virus, RHDV2. 

With my eyes closed, I can’t see the patchwork of brown leaves and fallen twigs covering the forest floor before me, the pale green lattice of lichen peppering the trunks of upward-reaching trees, or the waters of Fisher Creek rushing over a bed of weathered rocks.

Angelyn Whitmeyer might be the last person you would expect to contribute to ongoing research surrounding a Japanese photographer who found inspiration in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Clayton Bardall, a graduate student in Western Carolina University’s Engineering Technology program and tight end for WCU’s football team, recently combined his two passions — football and engineering — on a project that will have a major impact on athletes for generations to come. 

A research project aiming to understand contamination levels outside the fence line of the now-shuttered Canton paper mill is likely to draw more than a quarter-million dollars in state funding to test soil, water and air samples nearby. 

Haywood County native Kyle Miller has moved into the top leadership position at the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville, after his predecessor Will Morrow retired following more than 30 years with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.