Conservation

This Is What the Chernobyl Wildfires Look Like From Space

Chernobyl is still on fire. Satellite images captured Thursday by Planet Labs show wildfires inching closer to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The fires first started Saturday inside the 1,000-square mile exclusion zone centered around the plant, which suffered a massive explosion in 1986. Radiation levels spiked to 16 times higher than normal…

Conservation Yessenia Funes Apr 10

To Prevent the Next Pandemic, Leave Animals Alone

Over the weekend, a tiger at the Bronx zoo tested positive for covid-19. The weird occurrence raised questions about the zoonotic transmission of covid-19. Did Joe Exotic have anything to do with this? (Probably not). Did the tiger contract the virus from human contact? Can the tiger infect humans? How can we limit the spread…

Conservation Dharna Noor Apr 9

Why Coronavirus Could Lead to More Rhino Poaching

Live wildlife markets have temporarily closed across China and air pollution is dropping in cities around the world under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. That’s given nature some space to breathe even as the virus takes a toll on humanity. But in southern and eastern Africa, the risks to wildlife are rising as poachers…

Conservation Claire Wordley Apr 9

Great, Now All That Dumped Milk Could Kill Fish

The coronavirus pandemic has upended the U.S. food system. Shuttered restaurants are forcing farmers to leave produce rotting in fields and dumping out perfectly good milk. It’s a terrible waste in a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs and resorting to food banks. But officials are also concerned that all that milk could…

Conservation Dharna Noor Apr 6

A Newly Discovered Microbe Feasts on a Particularly Problematic Plastic

Like other forms of discarded plastic, polyurethane waste threatens the environment and human health. In an encouraging new development, European scientists have stumbled upon a hardy strain of bacteria that appears to thrive off the stuff. New research published in Frontiers in Microbiology describes a newly identified strain of soil bacterium that’s capable of breaking…

Conservation George Dvorsky Mar 27

Toilet Paper Thieves and Heavy Crowds at National Parks Put Rangers on the Frontlines of a Disaster

Last Wednesday, the National Park Service (NPS) announced it would suspend fees to parks to aid people in their quest for social distancing as the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the U.S. Then, the weekend came. It didn’t go that well. People, unencumbered by having to physically be at work or school and motivated to get…

Conservation Shaena Montanari Mar 27

These Award-Winning Wildlife Photos Will Calm Your Stressed Spirits

Right now, just about everything feels awful. A pandemic is ongoing. People are self-isolating at home to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading further. Businesses are closed, leaving countless workers without employment. And to top it all off, the climate crisis continues to threaten humanity’s existence. Well, let’s put all that aside just for a…

Conservation Yessenia Funes Mar 24

Pablo Escobar’s Cocaine Hippos Are Filling Ecosystem Roles in Colombia That Have Been Vacant for Thousands of Years

Generally speaking, scientists are not down with Pablo Escobar’s hippos. When the Colombian national police assassinated the cocaine kingpin in 1993, he left behind four fully-grown hippopotamuses. They are considered one of the world’s top invasive species. A January study showed that their shit was contributing to algae blooms and screwing with local lakes’ chemistry–the…

Conservation Dharna Noor Mar 24

Trump Administration Hires a Trophy-Hunting Advocate to Protect Wildlife

The Trump administration has done it again. In line with its past hiring decisions, the administration has appointed a former opponent of the Fish and Wildlife Service into a top position at the agency. The Fish and Wildlife Service has chosen Anna Seidman, the former legal advocacy director at Safari Club International, a nonprofit that…

Conservation Yessenia Funes Mar 20

Just Opening a Plastic Bottle Can Send Microplastic Pollution Into the Air

Coronavirus is Earth-shatteringly scary, and social distancing sucks. To distract myself and pull my brain out of the depths of speculative despair, I’ve been drinking a ton of seltzer, mostly from plastic bottles. I know that’s bad because plastic is an environmental nightmare, but seltzer water gives me more pleasure than many other things, so…

Conservation Dharna Noor Mar 19

DOJ Kills One of the Best Ways to Settle Legal Cases Against Polluters

For the past 30 years, in civil settlements, polluting companies in the United States could be compelled to fund environmentally beneficial projects in order to offset the damage they caused. As part of a 2018 settlement, for example, an Arkansas paper mill agreed to put $1.8 million into projects that curb air pollution, in addition…

Conservation Dharna Noor Mar 18

New Study Disproves the Republican Lie That National Monuments Hurt Local Economies

Donald Trump stripped Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah of their federal designations during his first year in office. State legislators applauded this move, fearing that the protections that come with this designation would hurt local economic benefits from mining, logging, and ranching. A new study, however, paints a different picture. Published…

Conservation Yessenia Funes Mar 18

Just Walking Around in Polyester Clothes Sheds Tons of Microplastic Pollution

Washing your clothes made from synthetic fabrics like acrylic, nylon, and polyester causes them to shed hundreds of thousands of microplastic fibers. Now, new research shows that just wearing synthetic clothes could release more microfibers than washing them. The new study, published this week in Environmental Science and Technology, found that simply wearing polyester clothes…

Conservation Dharna Noor Mar 11

Ecosystems the Size of the Amazon Rainforest Could Collapse Within Decades

The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covering an area roughly the size of Australia. And yet it and other large ecosystems could be gone within our lifetime. In a new paper published on Tuesday in Nature Communications, scientists analyzed data on 42 land and water environments of various sizes, from small ponds to…

Conservation Dharna Noor Mar 10

New Study Shows Sea Turtles Eat Plastic Because It Smells Like Food

There have been more than enough horrific viral videos of the turtles with straws stuck in their noses to show that plastic is a threat to them (I’ll spare you by not linking them). Studies have found that every minute, the equivalent of one dump truckload of plastic gets into the ocean, and researchers estimate…

Conservation Dharna Noor Mar 9

Coke, Pepsi, and Other Big Brands Are Getting Sued for Contributing to the Plastic Crisis

Some of the world’s biggest food, beverage, and consumer goods companies are getting their asses sued for their contributions to plastic pollution. The Bay Area environmental organization Earth Island Institute filed the first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ten companies—including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle, and Procter and Gamble—on Wednesday, alleging that the companies pollute waterways, coasts, and oceans with…

Conservation Dharna Noor Feb 28

The Cherokee Nation Becomes First US Tribe to Store Seeds in Svalbard Doomsday Vault

Tuesday marks a milestone for indigenous farming. A collection of Cherokee traditional seeds has reached the Arctic Circle to be preserved in the world biggest seed bank, after a 4,147 miles (6,674 kilometer) journey. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, established by the government of Norway in 2008, is a global backup facility for genetic heirlooms…

Conservation Lou Del Bello Feb 24

Australia’s Bushfires Brought 113 Species Closer to Extinction

Australia has been through the wringer this year. The disastrous bushfire season has led to a dramatic increase in carbon emissions, crazy conspiracy theories, firefighter deaths, some billions of dollars in damage, and the heartbreaking loss of more than a billion animals. A new report shows how more a hundred species on the continent are in…

Conservation Yessenia Funes Feb 11

Trump’s Blasting Through a National Monument to Have His Border Wall

As part of the Trump administration’s latest siege on national monuments, government contractors have started blowing up a mountain on protected lands in Arizona as construction continues on a hallmark of Trump’s presidency: the infamous border wall. As reported by the Intercept, dynamiting began this week on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a stretch…

Conservation Alyse Stanley Feb 6

Trump Administration Boldly Finalizes Plan to Ruin Some of America’s Most Pristine Wilderness

A little more than two years after dramatically shrinking two national monuments in Utah, the Trump administration has finished off its plans to exploit the land it cut out. I, for one, will rest easy knowing that formerly pristine wilderness and land held sacred by local tribes is finally in the hands of prospectors, ranchers,…

Conservation Brian Kahn Feb 6

This Is What the Chernobyl Wildfires Look Like From Space

To Prevent the Next Pandemic, Leave Animals Alone

Why Coronavirus Could Lead to More Rhino Poaching

Great, Now All That Dumped Milk Could Kill Fish

A Newly Discovered Microbe Feasts on a Particularly Problematic Plastic

Toilet Paper Thieves and Heavy Crowds at National Parks Put Rangers on the Frontlines of a Disaster

These Award-Winning Wildlife Photos Will Calm Your Stressed Spirits

Pablo Escobar’s Cocaine Hippos Are Filling Ecosystem Roles in Colombia That Have Been Vacant for Thousands of Years

Trump Administration Hires a Trophy-Hunting Advocate to Protect Wildlife

Just Opening a Plastic Bottle Can Send Microplastic Pollution Into the Air

DOJ Kills One of the Best Ways to Settle Legal Cases Against Polluters

New Study Disproves the Republican Lie That National Monuments Hurt Local Economies

Just Walking Around in Polyester Clothes Sheds Tons of Microplastic Pollution

Ecosystems the Size of the Amazon Rainforest Could Collapse Within Decades

New Study Shows Sea Turtles Eat Plastic Because It Smells Like Food

Coke, Pepsi, and Other Big Brands Are Getting Sued for Contributing to the Plastic Crisis

The Cherokee Nation Becomes First US Tribe to Store Seeds in Svalbard Doomsday Vault

Australia’s Bushfires Brought 113 Species Closer to Extinction

Trump’s Blasting Through a National Monument to Have His Border Wall

Trump Administration Boldly Finalizes Plan to Ruin Some of America’s Most Pristine Wilderness

Ozempic Shreds Bones? How a Small Study Turned Into a Big Health Myth

Anker’s Soundcore Translation Earbuds Are Now Nearly 7x Cheaper Than AirPods Pro 3 After a Sudden Price Drop on Amazon

Volkswagen Shuts Down Tennessee Plant’s EV Production at the Worst Possible Time

Using Emojis at Work? You’re Not Going to Like This Study 😮

A Terrifying Invasion Feels Eerily Familiar in This Short Horror Story

Shark AI Ultra Robot Vacuum at 51% Off Quietly Undercuts Dyson’s Stick Cleaner Prices

Tubi Manages to Turn People Against Recommendations With Bad AI Branding

Gizmodo’s Favorite Photos From NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

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