Fifty million years ago, India slammed into Eurasia, a collision that gave rise to the tallest landforms on the planet, the Himalaya Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau. India and Eurasia continue to converge today, though at an ever-slowing pace. University of Michigan geomorphologist and geophysicist Marin Clark wanted to know when this motion will end and why.

More than 3,000 gallons of Huron River water were trucked to the U-M campus recently to create 150 mini-Hurons that are used to study how environmental changes affect freshwater habitats like rivers and streams.

For the first time, the chemical “fingerprints” of the element mercury can directly link environmental pollution to a specific coal-burning power plant. “We see a specific, distinct signature to the mercury that’s downwind of the power plant, and we can clearly conclude that mercury from that power plant is being deposited locally,” said U-M researcher Joel Blum.

Related: Acid rain threatens Great Lakes sugar maples

Because they grow in calcium-rich soils, sugar maple forests in the Great Lakes region have largely been spared the damage caused by acid rain in the Northeast. But now, U-M ecologists has uncovered a different and previously unstudied mechanism by which acid rain harms sugar maple seedlings in Upper Great Lakes forests.

A wastewater treatment plant can provide the perfect mating ground for carelessly disposed of antibiotics to form superbugs that are eventually discharged into streams and lakes, says U-M researcher Chuanwu Xi.

Seems more people are interested in eating fresh, healthy foods. An alumnus and his co-author wife, who have built their own “farmstead” offer tips to get you started on the healthy, do-a-little-bit-more-yourself lifestyle.

Extreme flooding of the Mississippi River this spring is expected to result in the largest Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” on record, according to a University of Michigan aquatic ecologist and his colleagues.

Already under stress by invasive species and pollution, the Great Lakes are now seeing the reappearance of a problem once believed solved: dead zones, where no life survives. Worse yet, climate projections indicate that the problem is likely to grow.

Related: Researchers predict record Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” due to Mississippi River flooding

When alumnus Bill Sparrow decided to kayak the entire length of the Mississippi River, he and his wife Laura expected adventure. But they didn’t expect a whole new understanding of their country, its grandeur and its people.