Ecology

Brazilian park reveals what happened when the rains finally came to Dune

After the rainy season, the shifting dunes of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in northeastern Brazil become pockmarked by ephemeral lagoons that dry up as the year wends on. Photographer George Steinmetz has captured the beauty of these fleeting oases. Even though the 600-square-mile park is covered with sand, its plentiful rainfall allows the area to…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jun 28

Sperm whales’ doo-doo keeps their carbon footprint in check

Every year, the average sperm whale poops out 50 metric tons of iron, an amount equal to 30.3 2009 Hyundai Accents. These ferrous feces nourish phytoplankton at the ocean’s surface, which in turn absorb CO2 for photosynthesis. According to a recent paper published in the journal the Proceedings of the Royal Society B by researchers…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jun 16

Waterworld star Kevin Costner will clean up the BP oil spill

Kevin Costner once boasted that he could have cleaned up the Exxon Valdez spill in a week. Now he’ll get a chance to show what he can do — BP is buying his oil/water separation machines. [Inhabitat and WWL]

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Jun 11

“We broke the ocean”: Cherie Priest on the oil spill

Boneshaker author Cherie Priest writes a heartbreaking, unsettling essay about the Gulf of Mexico disaster, and the responsibility we all share. When I was about nine years old, I moved to Texas with my mom and sister. Our new home was in Orange, about six miles from the Sabine River, and maybe half an hour…

io9 Cherie priest Jun 5

The secret superpower of delicate coral reefs

Coral reefs are a vital part of marine ecosystems, but they can be damaged by everything from storms and careless divers to massive natural disasters. But they also have a superpower: An entire reef can grow from one coral chunk. Coral reefs are some of the most important and most fragile kinds of marine habitats,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jun 4

Reality has caught up to Shekhar Kapur’s dystopian vision

For 12 years, Elizabeth director Shekhar Kapur has been trying to make Paani, his movie set during future water wars. Now that he’s finally making it, he’s tweeting photos that prove the water wars are already here. Earlier this month, Kapur posted this grim concept art of the “undercity” where the less privileged residents of…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders May 31

Supertankers could be super easy solution to Gulf Coast oil disaster

Engineer Nick Pozzi has a simple solution to the massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast: use empty supertankers to suck up the oil. He says he knows it will work – because it did the last time this happened. Pozzi claims that he used the so-called “suck-and-salvage” technique numerous times during his two decades…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins May 21

One possible explanation for the Gulf oil spill: Did someone tug on Superman’s cape?

Superman’s turned nasty, in this awesome clip from Superman III, and this leads to him getting some action with a hot blonde who’s “past saving.” But first she wants him to cause a sexy, shiny oil spill in the Atlantic. Luckily, Superman III, which just aired on AMC, also offers some clues as to how…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders May 20

Satellite Shots Of North Korea Reveal A New Menace

Thanks to satellite data from NASA and Google, researchers discovered that North Korea has begun logging the Mount Paekdu Biosphere Reserve, a 326,000-acre United Nations forest preserve and habitat of the endangered Siberian tiger. Professor Guofan Shao of Purdue University – who studies Mount Paekdu remotely using satellite and sensors – noticed that perhaps 75%…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 18

How Much Oil Will Be Wasted In The Deepwater Spill?

The Deepwater Horizon oil leak is still spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico, but just how much oil is being wasted daily? This infographic breaks down the disaster with absolutely depressing lucidity. [David McCandless via Information Is Beautiful]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 11

Greatest Fossil Fuel Disasters In Human History

The fallout from the Louisiana oil rig explosion is continuing to be horrendous, and efforts to stop the damage aren’t looking promising. But this isn’t the worst fossil fuel disaster we’ve ever had. Here are 10 of the worst. http://gawker.com/5533483/team-attempts-to-put-giant-box-over-leaking-oil-well Disclaimer: It’s almost impossible to quantify or define “worst” in this context. Number of lives…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders May 7

The Reason Why Turtles Decided To Become Ninjas In The First Place

A dead turtle lays on the beach, its shell marked with orange paint for easy identification. This year’s number of endangered sea turtle corpses found washed up from the Gulf of Mexico is double the usual amount. [Associated Press]

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Apr 30

A Graveyard For Our Solar-Powered Future, In Spain

Here’s a Spanish cemetary which installed solar panels on top of the mausoleums a year or two back. It’s a fitting image, because Spain has just buried its enormous push for solar energy, thanks to the financial crisis. According to Bloomberg, Spain is choking off its massive investment in solar power, which involves subsidies and…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Apr 30

The Only Way To Save The Environment May Be Setting An Oil Slick On Fire

This white, foamy oil slick appears almost beautiful in this satellite image — but it’s set to become the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The Coast Guard is considering setting it on fire to save the environment. A Louisiana drill rig exploded and sank last week, and some 42,000 gallons of oil are still…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Apr 27

This Waterfall Represents The Amount of Oil We Use Every Second

The world reportedly uses 40,000 gallons of oil every second to keep the globe a-whirring. But what would this river of Texas Tea look like? The amount of water per second that flows down India’s Jog Falls. Harry at Harryhammer’s Blog decided to put global oil consumption in visual terms. Harry first calculated the amount…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Apr 26

Environmentalist Wants To Change The Name Of Our Planet To “Eaarth”

We’ve done so much damage to the planet, we can’t call it “Earth” any more, says environmentalist Bill McKibben. We’ll have to start calling our planet “Eaarth” instead. And we have to pronounce it in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. McKibben, whose new book is called Eaarth, explains to the Guardian why he thinks we should…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Apr 26

Planet Hulk’s Mad Genius Has A Radical Solution To Global Warming

We loved Greg Pak’s robot-themed anthology film Robot Stories, and now he’s crafted a bizarre, clever short film set in our eco-apocalyptic near future. “Mister Green” is one of 11 movies about future America that you can watch for free. https://gizmodo.com/20-greatest-sf-movies-of-the-past-decade-5426147 Pak, of course, is the writer of Planet Hulk, one of our favorite superhero…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Mar 8

The Bloody Bodies Of Polar Bears Rain From The Skies, Because Of You!

In what might be the most frighteningly graphic commercial we’ve ever seen, it’s raining polar bears. The giant bloody bodies are destroying this town, sending the message: Go green, or be smashed by flying bear corpses. Really horrible. [Geekologie]

io9 Meredith Woerner Nov 25

The New York Times Columnist Who’s Helping To Ruin The Future

Why is John Tierney so skeptical, and yet so gullible? The New York Times’ science columnist is one of the most vocal global-warming doubters in the media, but when it comes to Ray Kurzweil‘s Singularity and geo-hacking, he’s suddenly wide-eyed. People often lump Tierney together with George Will, as global-warming doubters at major newspapers who…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Nov 9

Gigantic Fleas and Killer Fish Wait on an Alien World

Brynn Metheny‘s The Morae River is a fascinating exercise in ecological worldbuilding. She populates her alien world with strange and unusual creatures, from man-sized rodents to towering, tentacled arthopods. Metheny includes details about the biology and behavior of her alien species, as well as the ecology of the fictional Morae River region. In addition to…

io9 Lauren Davis Nov 9

Brazilian park reveals what happened when the rains finally came to Dune

Sperm whales’ doo-doo keeps their carbon footprint in check

Waterworld star Kevin Costner will clean up the BP oil spill

“We broke the ocean”: Cherie Priest on the oil spill

The secret superpower of delicate coral reefs

Reality has caught up to Shekhar Kapur’s dystopian vision

Supertankers could be super easy solution to Gulf Coast oil disaster

One possible explanation for the Gulf oil spill: Did someone tug on Superman’s cape?

Satellite Shots Of North Korea Reveal A New Menace

How Much Oil Will Be Wasted In The Deepwater Spill?

Greatest Fossil Fuel Disasters In Human History

The Reason Why Turtles Decided To Become Ninjas In The First Place

A Graveyard For Our Solar-Powered Future, In Spain

The Only Way To Save The Environment May Be Setting An Oil Slick On Fire

This Waterfall Represents The Amount of Oil We Use Every Second

Environmentalist Wants To Change The Name Of Our Planet To “Eaarth”

Planet Hulk’s Mad Genius Has A Radical Solution To Global Warming

The Bloody Bodies Of Polar Bears Rain From The Skies, Because Of You!

The New York Times Columnist Who’s Helping To Ruin The Future

Gigantic Fleas and Killer Fish Wait on an Alien World

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

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