Ecology

Most King Penguins Could Vanish By the End of the Century

As global temperatures rise, the lives of countless plants and animals are changing in response. That includes king penguins, which a new study predicts will see profound, climate-driven changes in their numbers and the location of their breeding grounds over the next century. King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) live and breed on a collection of small,…

Conservation Jake Buehler Feb 26

Rare Yellow Cardinal Spotted in Alabama

There’s nothing quite like the thrill of seeing a rare bird. But not all birds are rare because of their species. Some are common birds that are just… really weird looking. Take this yellow cardinal that has drawn birdwatchers and scientists to Alabama. Reports AL.com: Auburn University biology professor Geoffrey Hill said the cardinal in…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 23

First Evidence that Microplastics Travel Up the Food Chain and Into Seal Bellies

You’re familiar with the food chain: little fish eats plankton, bigger fish eats the little fish, then a seal eats the bigger fish, thus consuming the energy from all three smaller animals. But what if the little fish had also eaten an indigestible piece of plastic? New evidence demonstrates the plastic could make it all…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 23

How the Hell Did Three Pacific Reef Sharks Wind Up Off the Coast of Brazil?

In today’s increasingly globalized and interconnected world, introductions of non-native species to new environments are common. But even by modern standards, scientists are now reporting something truly bizarre: three whitetip reef sharks native to the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and other parts of the Indo-Pacific recently appeared off the coast of Brazil. That’s according to…

Conservation David Shiffman Feb 21

Fittingly, This Sad Tree May Define Our New Geologic Epoch

A team of scientists have a new contender for determining the precise date that we entered the so-called Anthropocene: A lonely spruce tree on an island 400 miles south of New Zealand. Scientists are searching for a “golden spike” to help define the precise start of the Anthropocene Epoch, a human-driven era that would follow…

Climate Change Ari Phillips Feb 20

Listen to the Haunting Sounds of Puerto Rican Wildlife During Hurricane Maria

The 2017 hurricane system left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean. But less obvious than what last year’s most powerful storms did to natural landscapes is the effect they had on natural soundscapes. Results presented Friday at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland, Oregon, reveal how animals living on Puerto Rico’s southwest coast, including…

Earth Science Maddie Stone Feb 19

We Now Know Where Snow-Loving Species Could Adapt to Climate Change

Thanks to climate change, the hallmarks of winter’s end—snow melting and plants budding and flowering—are occurring earlier and earlier. While humans might cheer a little less time dealing with snow and slush each year, the animals that have evolved to sync their coat color with their seasonal surroundings are in mortal danger. New research has…

Conservation Jake Buehler Feb 15

Scientists Set to Explore Mysterious Seafloor Exposed by Antarctica’s Giant Iceberg

Remember the massive iceberg that split away from Antarctica last year? An international team of scientists is about to embark on a mission to explore the newly exposed marine ecosystem underneath—one that’s been hidden for over 100,000 years. Iceberg A-68, as it’s called, calved from Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf on July 12, 2017. Weighing…

Tech News George Dvorsky Feb 12

Fewer Vultures Could Mean a Lot More Dead Things

Vultures are a critical part of ecosystems across the world, acting as the primary cleanup crew for the dead. New research suggests that if vultures weren’t here to do what they do best, the whole recycling side of the Circle of Life could grind to a halt, because other scavengers just don’t fill their feathered…

Conservation Jake Buehler Feb 8

Snakes Could Be Spreading Flowers By Pooping Mice

You probably have this image of the circle of life in your head where a zebra eats a plant, a lion eats the zebra, the lion dies and fertilizes the soil, and then new plants grow. I mean, that sort of happens, but have you considered where snakes fit into all of this? A new…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 8

Disease Appears to Be Changing This Rare Hawaiian Bird’s Song

Hawaiʻi ʻamakihi are survivors. The tiny, yellow-green forest birds have persisted against an onslaught of challenges in recent centuries, from human-introduced predators and disease to habitat loss. However, new research suggests that the resilience of the ‘amakihi may not be without a price. The birds’ songs appear to have changed in areas subjected to the…

Conservation Jake Buehler Jan 31

Invasive Pine-Killing Wasps Are Even Worse Than They Sound

A new insect invader is spreading in eastern North America’s pine forests, and it’s causing trouble wherever its wings can carry it. The invasive Eurasian woodwasp (Sirex noctilio) is a pest of pine trees, capable of inflicting huge ecological and economical losses. Now, scientists are reporting that the spread of the Eurasian woodwasp may also…

Conservation Jake Buehler Jan 30

Frog Species Breaks Record for Most Sex Chromosomes in a Vertebrate

You may have learned in school that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes: 22 “autosomes” and their partners, which contain pretty much the same genes and in the same order, plus one pair of sex chromosomes that lead to the differentiation in sexual traits. But enough about us. The Amazonian Leptodactylus pentadactylus (smoky jungle frog)…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 29

The ‘Shower Rat’ Is Very Obviously Not Showering [Update: Also, It’s Not a Rat]

It’s very easy to look at an animal mimicking a human-like behavior and think “Wow! That animal is doing a human thing! It looks so cute and happy” (because humans are so cute and happy, right?) That is almost never the case. If an animal looks weird, it probably is weird—and not in a good…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 29

Discovery of Extinct Burrowing Bat Tells Mysterious Story About New Zealand

All but three land mammal species living on New Zealand today were brought there by modern humans, beginning around 800 years ago—and all three of those native mammal species are bats. But a newly discovered bat fossil suggests that there may be more species hiding in the isle’s ancient rock. Perhaps the mammal-poor islands once…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 12

Jellyfish Are the Badass Deep Sea Predators You Never Saw Coming

The deep ocean may be Earth’s largest ecosystem, but for obvious reasons it’s difficult to figure out what’s happening down there. A team of researchers is now shedding some light on the question of who eats whom in the deep, by examining decades of footage collected by robots off the central California coast. The surprising…

Earther Maddie Stone Dec 26

What’s the Ideal Number of Humans on Earth?

Earth might be looking a little worse for wear, after the last four-hundred years of reckless wide-scale resource extraction, but to its credit it hasn’t collapsed entirely. Despite our best efforts, it continues to gamely welcome our rapidly expanding population, barring the occasional earthquake. Whether the planet might be a little better off with fewer…

Tech News Daniel Kolitz Dec 25

Feast Your Eyes on Some of the Year’s Best Wildlife Photography

The British Ecological Society has announced the winners of its annual photo competition, and it features fantastic photos of fearsome predators pouncing on prey, a freakishly rare ocelot, and a crafty chameleon doing what a chameleon does best. This year’s competition was called “Capturing Ecology,” and it features photos primarily taken by international ecologists and…

Biology George Dvorsky Dec 1

This May Be Why So Many Bats Are Getting Killed By Wind Turbines

Wind may be the clean energy source of the future, but even renewables take an environmental toll. Wind turbines, for instance, are bat death machines, and a new study offers clues as to why: Bats may be flocking to the whirling steel towers to catch a meal. The finding is preliminary, focusing on a single…

Earther Maddie Stone Nov 22

Beneath Antarctica’s Sea Ice, Scientists Discover a Rapidly Changing World

Whoever you are, whatever you do, your job is almost certainly boring as hell compared with the researchers who spent the last six weeks diving beneath Antarctica’s sea ice to study alien life forms on the ocean floor. The scientists, from New Zealand and Finland, call themselves Science Under the Ice, and their mission is…

Earther Maddie Stone Nov 21

Most King Penguins Could Vanish By the End of the Century

Rare Yellow Cardinal Spotted in Alabama

First Evidence that Microplastics Travel Up the Food Chain and Into Seal Bellies

How the Hell Did Three Pacific Reef Sharks Wind Up Off the Coast of Brazil?

Fittingly, This Sad Tree May Define Our New Geologic Epoch

Listen to the Haunting Sounds of Puerto Rican Wildlife During Hurricane Maria

We Now Know Where Snow-Loving Species Could Adapt to Climate Change

Scientists Set to Explore Mysterious Seafloor Exposed by Antarctica’s Giant Iceberg

Fewer Vultures Could Mean a Lot More Dead Things

Snakes Could Be Spreading Flowers By Pooping Mice

Disease Appears to Be Changing This Rare Hawaiian Bird’s Song

Invasive Pine-Killing Wasps Are Even Worse Than They Sound

Frog Species Breaks Record for Most Sex Chromosomes in a Vertebrate

The ‘Shower Rat’ Is Very Obviously Not Showering [Update: Also, It’s Not a Rat]

Discovery of Extinct Burrowing Bat Tells Mysterious Story About New Zealand

Jellyfish Are the Badass Deep Sea Predators You Never Saw Coming

What’s the Ideal Number of Humans on Earth?

Feast Your Eyes on Some of the Year’s Best Wildlife Photography

This May Be Why So Many Bats Are Getting Killed By Wind Turbines

Beneath Antarctica’s Sea Ice, Scientists Discover a Rapidly Changing World

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

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

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

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

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

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

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead

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The Best Gadgets of March 2026

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MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

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