Saving Giants of the Amazon at Geek Bar Chicago’s SCIENCE! Tuesday

The Rupununi region of Guyana is a mix of lowland savannas and tropical forests. The vast savannas include an expansive network of wetlands that connect the Guyana’s main river drainage, Essequibo River, to the Amazon River during the rainy season. This unique biogeographic feature influences fish communities of the area. One of the fish species found here is in dire need of protection. Arapaima, threatened throughout their range, are the world’s largest scaled fish, weighing as much as 400lbs, and belonging to one of the most ancient lineages of freshwater fish; their ancestors shared the vast wetlands of prehistoric South America with the dinosaurs. They are also a historically important resource for Guyana’s indigenous communities.

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Playback from Pluto: Recent News from NASA’s New Horizon Spacecraft at Geek Bar Chicago’s SCIENCE! Tuesday

There’s a treasure at the edge of the Solar System. It’s a data recorder, aboard the New Horizons spacecraft, slowly sending to Earth several gigabytes acquired during last summer’s flyby of Pluto. That information is still coming down. At the mission’s home base in Maryland, William S. Higgins witnessed the excitement during the encounter. Now he reviews results, downlinked in recent months that are illuminating the mysteries of Pluto, its five moons, and its neighborhood.

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