2026 Science Singles

A javelina peeks out of a doggie door in the U.S.-Mexico border wall between Arizona and Sonora, offering a glimpse of wildlife activity in the borderlands. These small openings are designed to support connectivity for animals navigating fragmented habitats. Sky Island Alliance, a regional conservation nonprofit, monitors these wildlife passages through its Border Wildlife Study, using motion-activated cameras to track species movement and evaluate the effectiveness of these corridors in maintaining ecological connectivity in the Sky Island region Capture date: January 20, 2025

A stalk of hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) floats in the Connecticut River after it was dyed by scientists from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers studying flow patterns to obtain information about how best to add herbicides to the water and kill the highly invasive plant. Hydrilla was identified in the Connecticut River in 2016 and recent surveys of hydrilla in area waters and according to the US Army Corps of Engineers, “The plant is spreading and the risk of it spreading further to other regional waterbodies is significant."

A rare albino alligator named Claude is reflected in water as it sits in its enclosure at the California Academy of Science on September 17, 2025 in San Francisco, California. The California Academy of Science is celebrating the 30th birthday of its beloved rare albino alligator, Claude, with a month-long birthday bash. Claude was hatched on September 15, 1995, in Louisiana and lacks the pigment melanin, resulting in colorless skin. He was raised at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida before moving to the California Academy of Science in 2008.