Conservation

Deforestation Is a Death Sentence for Tropical Forest Animals

The wildlife who rely on tropical rainforests may be more screwed than we thought. A new study has found that tropical forest species are six times more sensitive to forest fragmentation than species in temperate ecosystems. The research published in Science on Thursday takes a deep dive into the topic of forest fragmentation, which occurs…

Conservation Yessenia Funes Dec 5

There’s Literally a Million Times More Microplastic in Our Oceans Than We Realized

If you pulled 1,000 liters (264 gallons) of water out of the ocean, how many small bits of plastic would you expect to find? Ten pieces? One hundred pieces? How about 8.3 million pieces of what researchers call “mini-microplastic.” Such is the finding of an alarming new study. The amount of microplastic in our ocean—that…

Conservation George Dvorsky Dec 3

‘Horrific’ 220-Pound Ball of Plastic Found in the Stomach of a Dead Sperm Whale

A recently deceased sperm whale found was found with a tightly wound ball of marine debris in its stomach, including an alarming assortment of plastics. The dead whale was found on the Isle of Harris in Scotland, and it was examined this past weekend by members of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), reports…

Conservation George Dvorsky Dec 2

Photo: ©Richard Tamayo, All Rights Reserved

India’s Sacred Groves Are Disappearing, Taking Biodiversity and Culture With Them

Past the outskirts of Kochi, a teeming south Indian city of 2.1 million, it’s possible to walk a few short minutes and enter another world. Under a leafy green canopy a 90-minute drive from the city’s busy downtown core, the screech of motorcycle engines is slowly replaced by the trilling of birds. The air is…

Conservation Diana Kruzman Nov 30

Toxic Coastal Fog Linked to Dangerously High Levels of Mercury in Mountain Lions

An unlikely culprit is being blamed for elevated mercury levels found in mountain lions living along the California coast: marine fog. Marine fog appears to be responsible for elevated levels of mercury in coastal terrestrial food webs, and it’s trickling all the way to the top, according to new research published this week in Scientific…

Conservation George Dvorsky Nov 29

Save the Whales—But Actually

Environmentalists have been demanding that we save the whales for decades. The phrase has been printed ad nauseam on so many buttons and t-shirts and bumper stickers that it’s practically a joke. But we should probably listen to them. Great whales are not only fascinating and cute as hell, they also keep carbon out of…

Conservation Dharna Noor Nov 29

The Bay Area Is Skipping Dungeness Crab This Thanksgiving to Protect the Whales

The season for stuffing our faces has arrived, but one item will notably not be on the table this Thanksgiving. In California’s Bay Area, commercial crabbers won’t be bringing in any Dungeness crab—a traditional treat on this gluttonous holiday—until December 15. Why? The whales, man. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the delay…

Conservation Yessenia Funes Nov 27

‘It’s Pathetic:’ World Fails to Protect One of the Most Eaten Sharks

Disbelief and disappointment are some of the more PG-rated reactions coming from the ocean conservation community on Tuesday in response to a decision not to protect mako sharks. A closely-watched measure to protect IUCN Red List Endangered fish failed to pass at an international meeting that ended Monday due to objections from the European Union…

Conservation David Shiffman Nov 27

Bug Scientists Uncover a New Cause of the Insect Apocalypse

We really need to give insects more credit. They pollinate the shit out of our flowers. They break down dead things. They even help us understand local water quality. And how do we thank them? By killing them with pesticides, habitat destruction, and climate change. Now scientists are sounding the alarm on nighttime light pollution.…

Conservation Yessenia Funes Nov 22

Photo: Elitza Germanov, Marine Megafauna Foundation

Manta Rays and Whale Sharks Are Consuming a Staggering Amount of Plastic

Manta rays and whale sharks are among the largest filter-feeding fishes on the planet. To power their bulk, they sieve massive quantities of plankton out of the water. But new research off the coast of Indonesia suggests their meals come with an unwanted garnish: an alarming amount of plastic waste. The waters around Indonesia are…

Conservation Jake Buehler Nov 19

It’s Eagle Cam Time

While many of us spent the weekend unpacking winter coats of various thicknesses and draping our windows in that insulation film that never seems to work, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources engaged in its own altogether better seasonal tradition: setting up its eagle cam. The myriad streams of puppies, napping in piles atop one…

Conservation Avery Ellis Nov 18

The Amazon Is Fucked Under Brazil’s President, New Data Confirms

For months, the world has watched in collective horror as the Amazon rainforest has been burned down under the watch of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. New data released Monday now puts the devastation in context. This year’s assault on the Brazilian Amazon resulted in the worst bout of deforestation in a decade. And compared…

Conservation Brian Kahn Nov 18

Why We Need to Consider the Human Toll of Conserving Half the Earth

Humanity has pushed Earth to the brink with more than a million species threatened with extinction. There are a number of ideas for how to stop the collapse of nature, but among the most radical is the idea of conserving half the planet. Conservation means protecting land and the ocean, of which there are many…

Conservation Brian Kahn Nov 18

Slide Into the Weekend With the Most Hilarious Wildlife Photos of 2019

Folks, if you aren’t heading into your weekend with an image of a king penguin forsaking public pool etiquette and absolutely unloading his ass without shame or a rhino pissing all over a bird, you’re not doing it right. These incredible images, and a selection of other similarly spectacular wildlife photography, comes courtesy the annual Comedy…

Conservation Catie Keck Nov 15

Let’s All Feed OpenAI’s Predictive Text Generator the Dumbest Crap We Can

This week, Elon Musk-backed OpenAI released to the public the latest version of their GPT-2 predictive text generator, which is capable of taking a writing prompt and continuing based on 40 gigabytes of data pulled from around eight million websites. This is impressive, next-generation technology, and I absolutely cannot stop feeding it the dumbest crap…

Conservation Tom McKay Nov 8

And Now for Some Very Good Bears

You ever look around and notice that bears are notably absent from your newsfeed? That there are neither fat bears nor bears doing crimes anywhere to be found? Reader, there is a clear scarcity of bear blogs, and for that reason, I think it only fair we point you in the right direction. Just a…

Conservation Catie Keck Nov 1

Reconsider the Vulture

The vulture is often depicted as death’s maligned servant, circling ominously in the clouds in search of decay. We’ve come to associate these creatures with disgust—but I don’t think the stigma is warranted. It’s the spookiest time of the year, so as I did last year, I’d like to introduce you to one of nature’s…

Conservation Ryan F. Mandelbaum Nov 1

How China Is Helping Drive Deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia

This has been a watershed year for tropical forests—and not in a good way. Massive fires have burned through hundreds of thousands of acres of rainforests in Indonesia and Brazil. The result is huge uptick in greenhouse gas emissions due to carbon being released from not only trees, but also degraded carbon-storing peatlands and other…

Conservation Nithin Coca Oct 31

Trump Administration Argues the Border Wall Is Good for the Environment, Actually

The border wall is an ecological disaster. Thousands of scientists have said as much. The federal government has said as much. And recent images of wall construction workers bulldozing cacti have shown it writ large. So, of course, the Trump administration has decided to declare last week that the border wall is being built to…

Conservation Brian Kahn Oct 25

Filtered Cigarettes Are One of the Worst Types of Pollution and We Should Ban Them, Experts Argue

Some scientists have had it up to here with cigarette butts, particularly those from cigarettes with filtered plastic tips. In a new op-ed this week, researchers have called for a global ban of filtered cigarettes, pointing out that the products aren’t any safer for us (as was once commonly advertised). In addition, they’re one of…

Conservation Ed Cara Oct 24

Deforestation Is a Death Sentence for Tropical Forest Animals

There’s Literally a Million Times More Microplastic in Our Oceans Than We Realized

‘Horrific’ 220-Pound Ball of Plastic Found in the Stomach of a Dead Sperm Whale

India’s Sacred Groves Are Disappearing, Taking Biodiversity and Culture With Them

Toxic Coastal Fog Linked to Dangerously High Levels of Mercury in Mountain Lions

Save the Whales—But Actually

The Bay Area Is Skipping Dungeness Crab This Thanksgiving to Protect the Whales

‘It’s Pathetic:’ World Fails to Protect One of the Most Eaten Sharks

Bug Scientists Uncover a New Cause of the Insect Apocalypse

Manta Rays and Whale Sharks Are Consuming a Staggering Amount of Plastic

It’s Eagle Cam Time

The Amazon Is Fucked Under Brazil’s President, New Data Confirms

Why We Need to Consider the Human Toll of Conserving Half the Earth

Slide Into the Weekend With the Most Hilarious Wildlife Photos of 2019

Let’s All Feed OpenAI’s Predictive Text Generator the Dumbest Crap We Can

And Now for Some Very Good Bears

Reconsider the Vulture

How China Is Helping Drive Deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia

Trump Administration Argues the Border Wall Is Good for the Environment, Actually

Filtered Cigarettes Are One of the Worst Types of Pollution and We Should Ban Them, Experts Argue

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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