Tech News

A Paper Straw Factory Is Opening Up in Britain Before a Planned UK Single-Use Plastics Ban

The first paper straw factory in the “last several decades” in Britain is planning to launch in Wales as fast-food chains prepare for a planned ban on single-use plastic products throughout the UK, the Guardian reported, with some chains already preparing their own plans to phase out plastic in favor of paper. The plant, run … Continued

EartherConservation

Canadian Oil Pipeline Could Drive Famous Puget Sound Whales to Extinction

Orcas are one of the Pacific Northwest’s most iconic creatures. But despite their beloved status, the local resident population known as the Southern Resident killer whales are critically endangered, with just 75 known animals left. Now, advocates worry the Trudeau government’s plan to purchase the Trans Mountain Expansion Project may push the whales to the … Continued

EartherConservation

Five New Snail-Slurping Snakes Discovered in Ecuador

Ecuador has five new species of snake, described by science for the first time. But these critters aren’t just any rainforest snakes: the new species have a diet that’s exceptionally weird, eating almost nothing but soft, gooey prey like snails and slugs. The researchers who found them also took the unusual step of auctioning the … Continued

EartherConservation

Scientists Call For Action to Prevent Right Whales’ Extinction

After a year with at least 17 deaths and a dismal breeding season, things are looking bleak for the North Atlantic right whale, one of the world’s most endangered large whales. The whales’ food is moving north and so are the gentle giants, into waters rife with fishing industry activity. According to a new paper … Continued

EartherConservation

Something Is Killing the World’s Oldest Baobabs

The largest baobabs have largely stood alone, bearing witness to history. Radiocarbon dating shows the oldest of these stout-trunked savannah trees have lived for upwards of 2,500 years, surviving the birth of Jesus, the Renaissance, two world wars, and the internet. But they may have met their match in climate change. A new paper published … Continued

EartherConservation

Madagascar’s Toxic Toad Invasion Is Worse Than We Realized

Madagascar has an invasive toad problem, and new research suggests that fears about its ecological consequences are well-deserved. Almost every predator native to the island is likely sensitive to the toads’ dangerous toxins. Asian common toads (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) were only recently introduced to Madagascar. They first turned up at the eastern port city of Toamasina … Continued

ScienceBiology

Pilot Whale Dies in Thailand After Being Found With 17 Pounds of Plastic Bags in Its Stomach

A male pilot whale struggled for five days to stay alive in Thailand near the Malaysian border after rescuers found it with 17 pounds of plastic bags in its stomach, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, but it ultimately succumbed to its illnesses. The whale died on Friday, the Post wrote, and an autopsy discovered … Continued

EartherConservation

Wyoming’s Grizzly Bear Hunt Won’t Happen Without a Fight

The Interior Department’s proposal to allow Alaskan hunters to shoot black bears in their dens may have sparked more outrage, but some major bear hunting news also came out of Wyoming last week, when a state commission decided to allow the first hunting season for grizzlies in over 40 years. On May 23, the Wyoming … Continued

Tech News

The EU Is Planning a Ban on Single-Use Plastic Products

The European Commission is proposing a ban on around 10 single-use plastic items that it says account for approximately 70 percent of all garbage in the European Union’s waters and beaches, including cutlery, straws, cotton buds, plates, some coffee cups, and stirrers, CNN Money reported on Monday. According to CNN’s report, it’s part of a … Continued

EartherConservation

The Practically-Extinct Northern White Rhino Just Got Some Good News

Things look pretty bleak for the northern white rhinoceros. Since the death of Sudan, the last male, the entirety of the subspecies has dwindled to only two females. But a group of scientists is churning away on a high-tech save involving carefully cryopreserved cells and tissue cultures from long-dead northern white rhinos. And a new … Continued

EartherConservation

Ryan Zinke Wants to Let Hunters Shoot Alaskan Bear Families in Their Dens

In Alaska’s national preserves, certain predators—like wolves, coyotes, and bears—and their babies may soon lose key protections that make them more vulnerable to fucked-up hunting tactics. These 10 natural preserves covering almost 37,000 miles will be no safe place for these animals anymore. The National Park Service, a part of the Department of Interior, proposed … Continued

EartherConservation

France is Being Invaded By Giant Killer Worms

France is known for many of its cultural items, including exceptional cuisine, wine, and the Louvre. Soon, it may also be known for its arm-length, shovel-headed, carnivorous worms. New research suggests that several species of these discomfiting creatures—known as hammerhead flatworms—have slithered into the country as invasive species. Perhaps even stranger is the fact that … Continued

EartherConservation

Hawaii Is Losing Its Most Iconic Tree to Disease

Over the last several years, a deadly fungal disease has killed hundreds of thousands of native Hawaiian ʻōhiʻa trees. Before now, the disease—Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death—was limited to Hawaiʻi Island. But the disease-causing fungus has now been found on the island of Kauaʻi. And that’s a big problem, considering that ʻōhiʻa is arguably the most important … Continued

EartherConservation

Lawns Are an Ecological Disaster

Neil Tyson often conjectures that maybe aliens have concluded humans aren’t intelligent enough to contact. He’s probably referring to our capacity for war, but lawns may display our talent for fruitless carnage even better. Americans devote 70 hours, annually, to pushing petrol-powered spinning death blades over aggressively pointless green carpets to meet an embarrassingly destructive … Continued

Tech News

Behind the Scenes at the Disney ‘Morgue’ Where Animation History Is Being Saved

Gizmodo went behind the scenes at the “Disney Morgue” to see how Walt Disney’s animation history is being preserved for future generations. The morgue has everything from the earliest drawings for short cartoons like Mickey Mouse’s Steamboat Willie (1928) to animation cels from movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) to stunning reference … Continued

EartherConservation

The Paris Agreement’s Reach Goal Might Just Save the Web of Life

The ultimate goal of the Paris climate agreement is to limit human-caused global warming to “well below” two-degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to keep it lower than 1.5 degrees. A new, large-scale study suggests that if we can keep the mercury from rising above the 1.5 mark, many of the Earth’s plants and animals—especially insects … Continued

EartherConservation

Invasive, Cannibalistic Tree Frogs Are Spreading Across the Gulf Coast

It is a cannibalistic, fist-sized frog covered in a noxious mucous secretion that burns your eyes. Its affinity for human structures leads it to clog drains and short-out the utility switches in which they lurk. They are spreading through the U.S. and we can’t stop them. Several message board commenters report that this proliferation is … Continued

EartherEarth Science

Please Enjoy These Animals the Zoos Have Kindly Rebranded For Us

The social media teams behind zoos and aquariums have rapidly become a beacon of hope in the otherwise festering hellscape of internet dialog. The latest example? Animals rebranded as better animals. The delightfully silly #RebrandASpecies hashtag currently trending on Twitter was born into the wilds on Thursday, awakening a sentiment that’s been buried in our cold hearts … Continued

EartherConservation

How Long Until Life Comes Back to Kilauea?

Toxic gases and oozing lava have turned the once vibrant forests on the eastern flank of Kilauea into a wasteland. The destruction may get even worse, with the risk rising for an explosive eruption as the lava lake at the top of the volcano drops. But it’s never too early to start talking about what … Continued

EartherEarth Science

Eyeless, Mouthless, Bone-Eating Worm Named After Jabba the Hutt

Jabba the Hutt—the iconic slug-like mobster from the Star Wars franchise—finally has a real world namesake befitting his ugliness. Osedax jabba is one of 14 newly-named zombie worms, tiny, mouthless, eyeless creatures that devour animal bones in the ocean’s depths. Jabba’s earthly brethren were found chewing their way through the head of a dead baleen … Continued