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

ScienceBiology

Severed Chicken Head Experiment Shows We’re Underestimating How Many Animals Are Killed by Cars

The shocking experience of hitting a deer on the road is occasionally followed by something you might find even stranger—passing pickup truck drivers asking if they can keep the corpse.  But it shouldn’t come as a surprise that non-human scavengers pick up roadkill, too. Researchers in the United Kingdom who study these critters think that … Continued

EartherEarth Science

San Diego’s Beaches Are Glowing With Bioluminescent Algae

Forget catching rays on the beach. If you’re near San Diego, do yourself a favor and go check out the surf at night. A rare bioluminescent red tide has created ghostly scenes on the shores of Southern California, from La Jolla to Encinitas. The last one was five years ago and only lasted a week … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Are Jupiter and Venus Messing With Earth’s Climate?

Our planet is in a remarkably circular orbit around the Sun, but as new research points out, Earth’s orbit sometimes experiences a slight jolt, thanks to the combined gravitational influence of Jupiter and Venus. Incredibly, this cycle has been going on for at least 215 million years—and one scientist suggests it could possibly have influenced … Continued

EartherConservation

We’re Not as Doomed as We Think, Ecologists Argue

It’s hard to talk to ecologists these days without drowning in doom. But a new review paper from members of the Wildlife Conservation Society suggests that amidst all the bad news, there’s still an opportunity to avert a sixth mass extinction and allow huge swaths of degraded land to recover. The trick is to make … Continued

EartherConservation

Oregon’s Cutest Predator Is on the Verge of Extinction

Oregon’s coastal martens (Martes caurina humboldtensis) are adorable, fierce, and extremely rare. Sadly, new research suggests that if something doesn’t change soon for these secretive, enchanting mammals, they may become extinct in the state within a few decades. Martens are “mustelids,” small carnivores like weasels and otters. Coastal martens—only about the size of a ten … Continued

EartherEarth Science

New Research Shows the Everglades Are Still Hurting Months After Irma

Hurricane Irma may be a fading memory for those who didn’t experience its heavy rains or ferocious winds. But in the Everglades, the damage is still visible—and its ripple effects could last for years. Aerial surveys led by NASA in December have revealed Hurricane Irma’s striking impact on remote swaths of Florida’s river of grass, … Continued

EartherConservation

The War Against Grizzly Bears Is Now a Fight to Save Them

Late last month, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke left Northwest wildlife advocates pleasantly surprised when he reignited an environmental impact study on the reintroduction of grizzly bears into Washington’s North Cascades National Park, putting his enthusiastic support behind the regional recovery of what he termed “the great bear.” Resuming the project is, frankly, a … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Rising CO2 Levels Could Be Messing With Squid

Rising CO2 levels aren’t just dissolving coral reefs. They might be causing squid to act all kinds of weird. That, at least, is the takeaway of a new laboratory experiment published in the journal Global Change Biology, which shows how elevated CO2 levels can affect the predatory behavior of two tentacled hunters, the pygmy squid … Continued

EartherConservation

National Parks Are About to Get a Bunch of Birds They Didn’t Ask For

Acadia National Park is warbler heaven. During the summer, you can hear everything from the rising call of the black-throated blue warbler to the tinkling bell-like call of the black-and-white warbler. Keep your eyes on the underbrush for tell-tale the yellow breast of the Canada warbler, or heavy thickets for the mourning warbler. In all, … Continued

EartherConservation

‘Almost Mythical Plant’ Rediscovered After 150 Years

A small, parasitic plant that is basically the IRL version of the Facehugger from Alien—or, more charitably, a “fairy lantern”—has been rediscovered in a rainforest in Borneo—151 years after its first and only sighting. Michal Sochor, a botanist at the Crop Research Institute in Olomouc, Czech Republic who led the discovery, called it a “fantastic … Continued

EartherConservation

Annihilation Reminds Us Why We Need Ecological Horror Stories

Annihilation isn’t a perfect movie. But it deserves credit for striving to tackle a subject few mainstream films ever take more than a glancing interest in: the inherent weirdness, and fragility, of ecological systems. And given the harsh realities of our rapidly deteriorating biosphere, that’s something we could use more of right now. Spoilers for Annihilation ahead. … Continued

EartherConservation

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, … Continued

ScienceBiology

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 … Continued

ScienceBiology

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 … Continued

EartherConservation

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 … Continued

EartherClimate Change

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 … Continued

EartherEarth Science

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 … Continued

EartherConservation

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 … Continued

Tech News

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 … Continued