Ecology

Man drowns after being attacked by swan

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: swans, geese, and other large waterfowl are not to be trifled with — especially when they’re defending a nest. According to the BBC: Anthony Hensley, 37, worked for a company that provided swans to keep geese away from property. On Saturday morning, the married father of…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Apr 17

The most beautiful toxins in the world

Seen from above, these tailing ponds look like shimmering, blue jewels. They flow cross the barren Utah landscape, full of byproducts from industrial processes and mining. A tailing pond is basically an outdoor toxic liquid holding tank, and environmentalists have argued that they are destroying ecosystems. Over at Environmental Graffiti, Simone Pruess has put together…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 16

The Most Accurate Count of Emperor Penguin Populations. From Space!

Good news for penguin-enthusiasts everywhere (that’s all of us, right? Good… just checking): scientists studying emperor penguin populations in Antarctica have tallied almost 600,000 of the birds waddling around the icy continent. That’s around twice as many as they were expecting to find — but what’s really impressive is how they went about counting them.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Apr 13

Hyenas give up scavenging for Lent

Hyenas in northern Ethiopia are glad today is Easter, and it’s not because they’re religious. It’s because they can finally get their jaws around the butcher scraps they’ve been deprived of throughout the holy month, and stop chasing down the scrawny donkeys they’ve been eating as a substitute. Northern Ethiopia has a depleted prey base,…

io9 Lauren Davis Apr 8

When seals strike back against the fishing industry

Sweden’s grey seal was once terribly endangered, its population thinned almost to nothing in the 1970s from pollution and hunting in the Baltic Sea. But then the seal population began to bounce back in the 1980s. And today, in the coastal waters off Sweden, there is a pitched battle going on between the restored ranks…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 2

Penguin poop can be seen from space

A combination of background coloring and penguin gastrointestinal prowess allows the Emperor penguin to be tracked by satellites orbiting the Earth. And ecologists love it. As anyone knows, there are some serious downsides to white carpeting, namely stains. All it takes is a single errant glass of juice, and the furniture has to be rearranged.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 2

A Marvelous Introduction to the Largest Plant Collection on Earth

For over a decade, the Millenium Seed Bank Partnership has been working in collaboration with scientists from around the world to establish an insurance policy against the extinction of Earth’s plant species. By 2020, the project hopes to have safely stored 25% of the world’s plant diversity in massive, nuclear-bomb-proof underground seed vaults. https://gizmodo.com/haunting-photographs-of-the-worlds-seed-vaults-which-m-5849093 This…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 28

Researchers describe a new evolutionary theory: The Black Queen Hypothesis

Bacteria belonging to the genus Prochlorococcus are some of the wimpiest in the world. Left to their own devices, these microorganisms have an exceedingly difficult time just staying alive — which seems counterintuitive, given that they’re also the most abundant photosynthesizing organisms on Earth. Over the course of evolution, these wildly successful bacteria have lost…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 28

Google Street View is now available for the Amazon rainforest

Last summer, Google took its Street View cameras to the Amazon, looking to capture the same 360-degree vistas that have made the technology so useful in cities all over the world. Yesterday, the project went live. There goes the rest of your week. You can now wander around the Amazonian jungle — exploring its rivers,…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 22

Newly discovered species of frog has been hiding in NYC for years

One of the most exciting things about genetic research is how much it has taught us about the diversity of life on Earth. Case in point: the as-yet-unnamed frog species pictured here. It looks so much like New York City’s other leopard frogs that scientists overlooked it for years, but by examining its DNA, researchers…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 15

Watch David Lynch’s amazingly creepy 1991 PSA about New York’s rat infestation

Not all of David Lynch’s commercials had the caffeinated zest of his Japanese Twin Peaks coffee ads. In 1991, he collaborated with Eraserhead’s director of photography Frederick Elmes on this borderline apocalyptic anti-littering PSA for New York City. You can find much more of Lynch’s curious commerical work at Lynchnet. https://gizmodo.com/david-lynch-s-twin-peaks-georgia-coffee-ads-5534679 [Via Gothamist]

Movies Cyriaque Lamar Mar 13

Why dolphins, cats, and other carnivores can’t taste sweets

Most mammals — humans included — have taste receptors that can detect sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savory flavors; but the bottlenose dolphin pictured above has lost its ability to detect sugars. In fact, newly published research reveals that the dolphin is just one of many carnivores that has lost its ability to sense sweetness…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 13

This four-winged dinosaur is helping rewrite the book on prehistoric plumage

What color were the dinosaurs? It’s a question that people have puzzled over for close to 200 years, and one that many long believed to be unanswerable. But a few years ago, scientists discovered that microscopic structures called melanosomes could be used to reveal prehistoric creatures’ true hues. Now, an international team of researchers studying…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 8

Hong Kong’s sidewalks are literally overflowing with shark fins

If you’re a fan of sharks — scratch that, if you’re a fan of the ocean, in general — prepare to have your day ruined. You’re looking at a video, shot by Oceanic Love‘s Gary Stokes, that reveals how shark fins are laid out to dry by the thousands along the sidewalks of Sheung Wan,…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 8

Should the Great Plains become Pleistocene Park?

So we’ve gone to all that trouble to clone ourselves a mammoth. Let’s say we even give it a mate. What do we do with them? Perhaps the mammoths, and other creatures, shouldn’t just be in zoos and captive breeding programs. Instead, maybe we could recreate a whole ecosystem from scratch. Top image: Rpongsaj on…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Feb 29

Woman admits to burning down 3,500-year-old tree while smoking meth

Why is it that so many of nature’s most awe-inspiring specimens seem to meet their end under such stupid circumstances? Some of you may recall reading about The Senator in recent weeks. The massive tree — which stood for over 3,500 years in what is now Longwood, Florida — was the oldest pond cypress tree…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Feb 29

What if all the cats in the world suddenly died?

What if all the cats on Earth vanished one day, beamed back to their home planet or taken up in the kitty rapture? We’d certainly miss their funny LOLCat antics and the way they sleep on our keyboards, but what greater disasters lie in store for a feline-free planet Earth? One scientist takes a look…

io9 Lauren Davis Feb 11

Some of the world’s biggest trees are also the most vulnerable

It seems counterintuitive, but new research suggests that it is actually the world’s biggest trees that suffer the most from climate change and forest fragmentation. The Guardian’s John Vidal writes: The biggest trees in the world, known as the true ecological kings of the jungle, are dying off rapidly as roads, farms and settlements fragment…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jan 27

A snowy owl makes the trip from the Arctic to Hawaii, where it is promptly shot

Every few years, beautiful two-foot-tall snowy owls migrate south in impressive numbers from the Arctic, in what bird watchers call an “irruption.” But this year, the regal-looking birds (which belong to the same species as Harry Potter’s Hedwig) are showing up farther south and in greater numbers than ever before. For some this is great…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jan 24

Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson lay bare the decline of American science in 180 seconds

The United States has long been recognized as one of the most scientifically productive countries on Earth. But when you’re discussing progress, where you’ve been is not nearly as important as a) where you are today, and b) where you stand to go from there What this presentation from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson makes abundantly…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jan 23

Man drowns after being attacked by swan

The most beautiful toxins in the world

The Most Accurate Count of Emperor Penguin Populations. From Space!

Hyenas give up scavenging for Lent

When seals strike back against the fishing industry

Penguin poop can be seen from space

A Marvelous Introduction to the Largest Plant Collection on Earth

Researchers describe a new evolutionary theory: The Black Queen Hypothesis

Google Street View is now available for the Amazon rainforest

Newly discovered species of frog has been hiding in NYC for years

Watch David Lynch’s amazingly creepy 1991 PSA about New York’s rat infestation

Why dolphins, cats, and other carnivores can’t taste sweets

This four-winged dinosaur is helping rewrite the book on prehistoric plumage

Hong Kong’s sidewalks are literally overflowing with shark fins

Should the Great Plains become Pleistocene Park?

Woman admits to burning down 3,500-year-old tree while smoking meth

What if all the cats in the world suddenly died?

Some of the world’s biggest trees are also the most vulnerable

A snowy owl makes the trip from the Arctic to Hawaii, where it is promptly shot

Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson lay bare the decline of American science in 180 seconds

Trump Is Reportedly Going Full Steam Ahead with the Golden Dome

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Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

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