Bill Ditto

Jul 14, 2025

NC State Students Are Restoring Crucial Coastal Habitats With First-of-Its-Kind Plant Nursery

Students in this summer’s marine science field course helped establish a “donor marsh” with thousands of young plants to aid the state’s salt marsh restoration efforts.

Jul 10, 2025

Scientists Warn Climate Change Is Fueling More Frequent, Intense Flash Floods Nationwide

WCIV
“During Helene, they talked a lot about it being a once-in-a-thousand-year event or more,” Carl Schreck, senior research scholar with NC State and NC Institute for Climate Studies, told News 13. According to Climate Central, rainfall rates today are now 15% higher than in 1970. “That’s not taking into account climate change, where these events are starting to happen more frequently,” Schreck added. “So, the same rainfall today will have more moisture to work with and cause more rain than it would have 50 or 100 years ago.”

Jul 9, 2025

Intense Downpour Like Those in Texas Are More Frequent, But There’s No Telling Where They’ll Happen

Texarkana Gazette
“It’s just loading the dice toward heavy rainfall when the situation is right,” said Kenneth Kunkel, a climate scientist at North Carolina State University. “This month was the Texas Hill Country’s turn to get hit. Last fall … in western North Carolina, it was our turn."

Jul 9, 2025

Ice in a Million-Degree Fermi Bubble Reveals the Milky Way’s Recent Eruption

Science Daily
“The Fermi bubbles are enormous structures of hot gas that extend above and below the disk of the Milky Way, reaching about 25,000 light years in each direction from the galaxy’s center — spanning a total height of 50,000 light years,” says Rongmon Bordoloi, associate professor of physics at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of the research.

Jul 9, 2025

Gut Length Driven by ‘Sexual Conflict’ in Fish Species

In cichlids, some of the genetic loci for gut length are sex-specific even though males and females of the same species have the same gut length.

Jul 8, 2025

‘Ice in a Volcano’ Reveals Age of Gas Cloud at Milky Way’s Center

Researchers find clouds of cold gas embedded deep within larger, superheated gas clouds – or Fermi bubbles – at the Milky Way’s center.

Jul 8, 2025

Allison Pratt’s Mission to Bring Science Home

EdNC
At just 17 years old, Allison Pratt is already charting a bold course in science, service, and scholarship. A graduate of SandHoke Early College High School — Summa Cum Laude, with an associate in arts degree — Allison will enter North Carolina State University in fall 2025 as a junior, majoring in biological sciences with a concentration in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.

Jul 8, 2025

Galactic Mystery: How ‘Ice Cubes’ Survive in the Milky Way’s Blazing Bubbles

National Science Foundation
“These findings change our previous assumptions, showing that cold gas can persist in the hot, turbulent Fermi Bubbles,” explained Rongmon Bordoloi, the lead scientist of this research and an associate professor North Carolina State University, “We didn’t know that cold gas can survive in these extreme outflows. This challenges our understanding of how galaxies recycle and expel matter.”

Jun 27, 2025

Map Shows States With Highest Use of Harmful Pesticides

Newsweek
Gerald LeBlanc, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, told Newsweek: “I am not concerned that 2,4-D may cause cancer in humans. IARC has classified 2,4-D as a Group 2B carcinogen, which means that it is possibly carcinogenic to humans. In my estimation, 2,4-D might cause cancer in humans, but only at unrealistically high exposure levels.”

Jun 26, 2025

A New Pyramid-Like Shape Always Lands the Same Side Up

Quanta Magazine
At first, it might seem obvious that this should work. “After all, this is how roly-poly toys work: Just put a heavy weight in the bottom,” said Dávid Papp of North Carolina State University. But “this only works with shapes that are smooth or round or both.” When it comes to polyhedra, with their sharp edges and flat faces, it’s not clear how to design something that will always flip to the same side.