These non-air conditioned ways of keeping cool could make a huge difference...
The modern phenomenon of air conditioning is something people in much of the developed world have become accustomed to. Now in China, India, Brazil and other developing countries people who have never...
View ArticleGrizzlies, polar bears evolve with climate change. Behold, the Pizzly bear!
Scientists say the Arctic has undergone unusual, and increasingly rapid change over the past few decades as a result of climate change, including the appearance of the Pizzly bear — a grizzly-polar...
View ArticleAlaska's salmon fishers: New mines upstream could hurt the fish
Summer in southeast Alaska is salmon season. As the days grow long, the iconic pink fish begin to run up rivers and streams, and the fishing economy jumps to life. But this summer, fishermen are...
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A Norwegian artist wants to raise a storied ship using some really big balloons
Even during an era of great explorers tackling the nigh impossible, the Norwegian seaman Roald Amundsen was sui generis: He discovered the fabled Northwest Passage through Canada; he led the first crew...
View ArticlePregnant panda? It's almost impossible to tell
Pregnancy is not something that’s easy to hide. From expanding pregnant bellies, to morning sickness and ultrasounds, whether someone is pregnant, eventually, is usually not that hard to figure...
View ArticleMammoth tusks are serving as a cover for illegal traffic in modern day...
Selling elephant ivory is illegal around the world thanks to tough regulations like the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species. But despite the international ban, elephant poaching continues in...
View ArticleOn the trail to catch cyber criminals
Ah, Silicon Valley: a sparkling chrome paradise that the Ambassadors of Tomorrow call home. It’s teeming with young entrepreneurs, ingenious creatives, deep-pocketed investors … and the criminal...
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When the corpse flowers bloom, people flock
A rotten stench has been wafting through a greenhouse at the Denver Botanic Gardens — and visitors are all too eager to breathe it in. Who knows if they’ll ever get a second chance? The odiferous...
View ArticleEPA contractors caused gold-mine blowout that turned a river orange
Orange. That was the new color of the Animas River in Colorado.Contractors working for the EPA caused the blowout at the Gold King Mine in Silverton, Colorado. That released a plume of toxic...
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This mutilated toucan now has a new 3-D-printed beak
Tieta, a female toucan from Brazil, lost the upper part of its beak while being trafficked. Now, scientists have created a prosthesis for Teita made with a 3-D printer.Tieta was rescued from a wildlife...
View ArticleThis octopus preys — and mates — a little differently
“I like other marine animals, but octopuses — they’re aliens on our planet. They're the closest thing we're going to get to that.”So says Richard Ross, a senior biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium in...
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For animals and their humans, love speeds the post-quake recovery in Nepal
When a buffalo is born in the Nepali village of Kaskikot, it’s treated a lot like a human birth. Today Aamaa, whom I live with, and I are cooking a special meal in honor of baby O’Neil, a buffalo who...
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Is an artificial tree part of the solution to climate change? These guys...
If you want to boil the climate crisis down to one simple problem, it’s this: there’s too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere these days.Here's the skinny: CO2 traps heat. There’s about 40 percent...
View ArticleUsing forest fires to prevent forest fires
The United States has a basic and intuitive policy when it comes to forest fires: put them out, and put them out as quickly as possible.This policy of fire suppression is one the US has followed for...
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Take air. Suck out CO2. Make fuel. A lab advance hints at a future for...
Chris Chang says the weeds outside his chemistry lab at UC Berkeley are doing something incredible, something we humans still haven’t figured out how to do.They use sunlight, carbon dioxide from the...
View ArticleIs America's newest frontier in the Arctic?
If you're looking for President Barack Obama this week, leave a message. He'll be in the Arctic. Today, Obama embarked on a three-day tour of Alaska where he'll venture north of the Arctic Circle — a...
View ArticleA Mexican porpoise is facing extinction — almost by accident
The world’s most endangered marine mammal is a small porpoise called the vaquita— Spanish for little cow. The vaquita has been under threat for years, but now the poaching of a rare fish may be driving...
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How puffins made it back to Maine's Egg Rock
Puffin with hake and bluefish. Credit: Derrick Z. JacksonIn our new book “Project Puffin: The Improbable Quest to Bring a Beloved Seabird Back to Egg Rock,” National Audubon Seabird Restoration...
View ArticleObama has a plan to cut down on methane leaks
The Obama administration has been rolling out a series of new environmental regulations ahead of the UN climate summit later this year. Their latest effort calls for a more than 40 percent reduction in...
View ArticleFlorida's natural springs are changing — and disappearing
Late summer is a perfect time to go for an outdoor swim. Many in Florida, however, are finding that the crystal clear spring-fed swimming holes they used to frequent have turned dark with pollution and...
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