Science Fiction Becomes Reality for Species Surveys

It's a familiar scene in science fiction stories: Explorers arrive on a new world, and quickly determine what's in their surroundings with a high-tech device that checks for breathable air and signs of other life forms. Here on earth, science fiction is becoming reality through a new sampling technology called environmental DNA, or eDNA for short. It allows scientists, like ecologist Ryan Kelly, to detect rare or invasive species, study biodiversity or estimate fish abundance with...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - mercredi 31 décembre 2014