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Insects offer new hope in Michigan State University’s fight against forever chemicals

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Researchers at Michigan State University are exploring an unexpected new tool that could reshape how scientists detect so-called forever chemicals in lakes, rivers and wetlands across the Great Lakes. Scientists have discovered that locusts can sniff out PFAS contaminants down to parts per trillion, a level of detection far beyond most conventional sensors. The new tool: insects. “This tells us insects can detect PFAS at very, very low concentrations,” said Dr. Debajit Saha, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at MSU, who has spent years studying how insects process smells. “It opens the door to developing a real‑time scanning device that could be deployed in the Great Lakes region.”

A close-up view of the experiment.

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National Geographic spotlights ‘lesser known’ Indiana Dunes National Park

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By Grace Jenkins

Indiana Dunes National Park is among the country’s five “lesser known national parks to add to your bucket list,” according to National Geographic. 

With 2.7 million visitors in 2023, the park ranks 36th in attendance among 393 national parks, monuments and historic sites. Credited for its striking plant and bird diversity, the park offers recreational and educational opportunities that many visitors enjoy, according to the National Park Service. In 2019, what was then called the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore became the state’s first national park. Betsy Maher, the executive director of Save the Dunes, an environmental conservation organization based in Michigan City, Indiana, cited the effects that renaming the park has had on its popularity. “The combination of 2020 with the pandemic and the name-change status caused a big boom in visitorship,” Maher said.

Pieces of wreckage of the Mojave are visible on the bottom of Lake Michigan near Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Image: Wisconsin Historical Society
Echo

Ship doomed on Lake Michigan now moored on National Register of Historic Places

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By Eric Freedman

A Detroit-built sailing ship that sank in Lake Michigan during an 1864 storm has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The three-masted Mojave, only 1 year old at the time, went down in heavy weather while northbound on the route from Chicago to Buffalo with a load of grain. A newspaper reported at the time: “The master of the bark Monarch reported seeing the Mojave drop into the troughs of the heavy seas that were running at the time, become swamped and disappear.”

The doomed ship was never seen again. At least five crew members died, including 30-year-old Capt. Darius Nelson Malott, and “their remains were not recovered,” according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The inscription on Malott’s memorial marker in Lakeview Cemetery in Leamington, Ontario, reads, “Lost with the Barque Mojave on Lake Michigan.”

In 2016, shipwreck hunter Steve Radovan discovered the well-preserved Mojave 12½ miles northeast of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Breakwater Lighthouse.

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Michigan Press Association honors Echo reporters

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Ten Great Lakes Echo reporters recently scored honors in the 2023 Michigan Press Association’s College Better Newspaper Contest. 

“Our bench is deep, but it has to be to cover the world’s most important beat,” said Echo Editor David Poulson

Echo

Environmental journalism danger commentary

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Reporting on environmental problems and controversies remains a perilous endeavor, as demonstrated by a series of incidents around the globe.

Journalists are physically assaulted, jailed, interrogated by police, kidnapped, fired, sued for libel, harassed and even murdered for seeking to expose environmental crimes

Echo

Pepper wars: Michigan grower disputes Pepper X’s record for world’s hottest pepper

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Guinness World Records recently announced that the world’s new hottest pepper is a veggie known as Pepper X, grown by Puckerbutt Pepper Co. of Fort Mill, South Carolina.

But Ryan Karcher, a veteran pepper grower from Howell, Michigan, is contesting Pepper X’s spice and flavor with his own pepper. It will be featured in a January 22 television show called Superhot: The Spicy World of Pepper People.