Photo gallery: Europe’s most active volcano is in spectacular form
While fireworks may look nice, they don’t even compare to the natural extravagance of a volcanic eruption. Recently, the people of Sicily have been treated to an incredible show from Europe’s most active volcano: Mount Etna. The volcano has been spewing massive lava fountains and oozing Read More...
Researchers rediscover tiny Tasmanian crayfish thought to be extinct
Tasmania is a biodiversity hotspot that is home to many species of wildlife, but there’s one particular species that researchers hadn’t spotted in decades: the short-tailed rain crayfish. Crayfish expert Alastair Richardson first encountered the short-tailed rain crayfish in the 1970s while Read More...
The European bison is no longer classified as “vulnerable”
In 2003, the population of the European bison stood at just 1,800 individuals, leading scientists at the International Union for Conservation and Nature to classify the animal as “vulnerable.” This led to a number of conservation initiatives, including the 5-year LIFE Bison project, which Read More...
Science Moms: This group is rallying mothers to become climate activists
As a climate scientist and a mother, Emily Fischer says it can be hard to study climate change because the data feels “very real” to her. She thinks about our climate timeline in terms of her own kids, knowing that the estimated 10 years or less that we have to perform a massive shift in the Read More...
The Optimist View: Best of 2020
"Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else." - Fred Rogers While 2020 has felt like a long, strange “fever dream”, to quote one of our staff members, there were lots of positive solutions to be found. Whether it was advances in medicine, Read More...
Positive destruction: How elephants are rewilding this national park
Sometimes destruction can be a good thing. To demonstrate our point, let’s take a look inside the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where a herd of around 580 African elephants have entered from neighboring land, tearing through trees and knocking down bushes Read More...
Tweet tweet! Study finds birds are linked to happiness levels
If you find yourself happier around singing birds, you’re not alone. A new study from the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research indicates being around greater bird biodiversity is actually linked to greater happiness levels amongst people. To come to this conclusion, the Read More...
English nature reserve expects a record-breaking year for seal pup births
Back in 1988, the Blakeney Nature Reserve in Norfolk, England, recorded the first birth of a grey seal pup. Since then, the reserve has become England’s largest seal colony, with a total of 3,399 pups born there just last year. When compared to the grand total of 25 pups born there in 2001, you Read More...
To stop biodiversity loss, we must return half of the planet to nature
This will be a hard pill for nature lovers to swallow, but a recent report from the United Nations revealed that the Earth has lost 68 percent of species since 1970. This a huge problem for both wildlife and humans. Without a diverse range of animals and the lands they inhabit, humanity is poised Read More...
Bird-watching: These 3 tools let you track migratory birds near you
Running out of entertainment options as the pandemic continues to trudge onward? Now is the perfect time to take up bird-watching! Yes, this is the time of year where many birds migrate long distances to make a temporary home in a different climate, which means there’s a good chance that some Read More...