Nathan Rott
Nathan Rott is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, where he focuses on environment issues and the American West.
Based at NPR West in Culver City, California, Rott spends a lot of his time on the road, covering everything from breaking news stories like California's wildfires to in-depth issues like the management of endangered species and many points between.
Rott owes his start at NPR to two extraordinary young men he never met. As the first recipient of the Stone and Holt Weeks Fellowship in 2010, he aims to honor the memory of the two brothers by carrying on their legacy of making the world a better place.
A graduate of the University of Montana, Rott prefers to be outside at just about every hour of the day. Prior to working at NPR, he worked a variety of jobs including wildland firefighting, commercial fishing, children's theater teaching, and professional snow-shoveling for the United States Antarctic Program. Odds are, he's shoveled more snow than you.
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Charles Darwin theorized that a sound, smell or color that's attractive to one species can be preferred by others too. A new study finds humans and animals do share preferences for certain sounds.
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NPR's Short Wave team talks about a wildflower's ability to adapt to climate change, the grooming habits of birds, and the social lives of sharks.
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Seawalls are great at protecting property and people. A new nature-inspired seawall add-on is trying to make them better at protecting marine wildlife too. -
It's long been assumed that koalas in southern Australia are genetically unhealthy. A new study finds they're actually recovering, changing how scientists look at genetic risks.
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Elephants use their trunks much like a human uses their hands: to pick up food and manipulate objects. A new study finds that tiny, specialized whiskers on elephant trunks help them do it.
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The ability to imagine -- to play pretend -- has long been thought to be unique to humans. A new study suggests certain apes may be able to as well.
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Humpback whales will sometimes use an intricate strategy to catch food called bubble-net feeding. A new study suggests they're spreading the knowledge of how to do it to each other.
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Austrian researchers say they've found the first known example of tool use by cattle, courtesy of a Swiss-Brown cow named Veronika.
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There are roughly 2.5 million known species on the planet, but scientists estimate that's only a fraction of the biodiversity on Earth. A new study shows we're finding new species like never before.
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A new study suggests humans were deliberately starting and using fires more than 400,000 years ago.
