diatoms

Western sandpipers flock by the thousands during migration, one of the natural world’s great spectacles. Photo by Donald M. Jones/Minden Pictures
Hakai Magazine — This article is the first in a two-part series. The second installment, looking at the future of the western sandpiper at Roberts Bank, will be published on November 29, 2016.

Both legal and illegal drugs are polluting streams in and around at least 1 major U.S. city, a new study reveals. This includes amphetamines, which are biologically active and highly addictive. [1]
The pollution comes at a high cost, ecologically. Areas in some streams have high enough concentrations of amphetamines to alter the bottom of the aquatic food chain.
Study author Sylvia Lee said: