STUDY FINDS - Like something straight out of a Disney movie, a study finds that gophers worked to save an entire mountain. These little critters dug up bacteria and fungi that helped restore lost plant and animal life to the devastated mountain landscape. Forty years later, the 24-hour gopher experiment continues to yield results. In...
POPULAR MECHANICS - It would probably pretty alarming to learn that, in the early 1980s, scientists decided to drop off a bunch of gophers at the site of a volcanic eruption. But don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds. In fact, according to a new report from the University of California, this particular...
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE - In May 1980, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake accompanied by an avalanche flipped the switch on a volcano in Washington state. With pressure suddenly removed from the magma below, Mount St. Helens spewed lava, ash and debris in the southwestern part of the state. It became the most destructive eruption in United States history...
FORBES - It was a bright, warm and nearly cloudless morning on 18 May 1980, when all hell broke loose throughout much of Washington State. This was when Mount St. Helens, a dormant volcano, roared to life, sending hot lava cascading down her slopes and incinerating every living thing for miles around. Thick clouds of...
IFLSCIENCE - When Mount St Helens erupted in 1980, the resulting lava, ash, and debris turned the landscape barren for miles around. It was clear the land would take a long time to recover from the eruption. But one team of scientists had an idea about how they could help speed up the process; sending...
GIZMODO - In the wake of the most disastrous volcanic eruption in the history of the United States, scientists enlisted the help of an unlikely ally to regenerate life on Mount St. Helens’ barren slopes: gophers. Over four decades later, they were shocked to see that the burrowing rodents’ positive impact remains visible to this...
COSMOS MAGAZINE - In 1980, Mount St Helens erupted in the western USA, killing 57 people and destroying 350km2 of forest. In 1983, scientists captured 2 wild gophers, and put each of them on a small, fenced enclosure on the ruined volcanic plain. They let the gophers dig for 24 hours, then removed them. According...
POPULAR SCIENCE - On May 18, 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens emitted 1.5 million metric tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere while its pyroclastic lava flow incinerated virtually everything within a 230-square-mile radius. Three years later, wildlife experts enlisted a team of local helpers for just 24 hours to speed up the...
EARTH.COM - The day that Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 is forever seared into the collective memory of the world. An unstoppable surge of lava effectively reduced surrounding life forms to ash within a matter of miles. In an unlikely twist of fate, an experiment involving some resilient gophers triggered a chain of events...