Here's the thing about apocalyptic droughts: They are bad for people and livestock and all other living things, but they are ESPECIALLY bad for fish. Texas minnows can't wait for Rick Perry's prayer meetings to alleviate the state's record dry spell -- they're already in dire straits as the water shortage robs them of their ability to eat, move, respirate, and reproduce. So scientists are evacuating them, moving the tiny fishlets from the shrinking Brazos River into safer fish hatcheries. Minnows obviously need water to live; that's where they catch their food, get their oxygen, and keep their stuff. But …

"mysid shrimp" 10.7mm from tip of antennae to tailPhoto: David Liittschwager Naturalist E.O. Wilson once wrote that "a lifetime can be spent in a Magellanic voyage around the trunk of a single tree." Easy for him to say: He's made a distinguished career out of studying ants and a lot of other little wriggly things that most of us dread finding in the shower in the morning. But Wilson found a kindred spirit in photographer David Liittschwager. Liittschwager has spent years photographing animals, from squirrels to beetles, in a Darwinian effort to wrap his mind around the sheer variety of …

The Obama administration wants to strangle job growth in America like some kind of giant, prosperity-choking python, mostly by banning the importation of said pythons, says a new GOP report. In a new report entitled "Broken Government: How the Administrative State has Broken President Obama's Promise of Regulatory Reform," GOP members cited the proposed snake ban as one of seven examples of red tape choking off job growth in an already ailing economy. After all, the snake-importation industry bears the U.S. economy on its shoulders. As go snake importers, so goes the country, right? Everyone knows that. Here's the irony: …

We all know the Earth still has more and stranger species than we've discovered, or at least it will until we clear-cut and climate-bomb them right into extinction. But you usually figure these fragile exotic lifeforms are hanging out in caves under Madagascar, or somewhere else that's tough to get to. Turns out, though, that at least some of them have been chiling near Melbourne, Australia, where researchers have discovered a new species of dolphin just basically right under their noses.  This is only the third new dolphin species recognized since the late 1800s, though maybe others are out there …

In its recent report on the company's carbon footprint, Google said that it offsets its emissions with high-quality offsets. We are happy as a pig in shit about that. Which is appropriate, because here's one example of what that means: energy powered by pig poop. The company has invested in a North Carolina project which collects the methane from the waste of 9,000 hogs. A power plant burns the methane to create power for 35 homes a year. This isn't an energy solution that will power the entire country (too many hogs required), but it does keep the methane, a …

Environmentalists are always looking for allies who can blast away treehugger stereotypes. They should consider reaching out to the community of anyone who's ever gone snorkeling in a coral reef. (You remember that part of your Cancun vacation, don't you? It happened sometime between the margaritas and the … margaritas.) According to a new book called Our Dying Planet, humanity is on track to wipe out all coral reefs. No more bright, awesome fish and crazy plants. Ever. The book, written by Peter Sale, a former professor at the University of Sydney who’s now at the United Nations University, says …

On the seafloors of Antarctic basins, the water has warmed by just 0.27 degrees C — but that’s enough to allow giant king crabs to take over the ecosystem and eat everything they find. These suckers are more than three feet across, and they're gobbling up sea urchins, sea lilies, sea cucumbers, and starfish. They're also messing with the make-up of the sea floor. Check out the (terrifyinggggg) video above: The crab looks like an invasive vehicle in a Star Wars movie that's launching a sneak attack on an unsuspecting, peaceful civilization. Scientists had predicted these guys would invade Antarctic …

The Obama administration provided a loan guarantee to a SolarCity project that would put solar panels on 160,000 military homes — "the largest domestic residential rooftop solar project in history," Energy Secretary Chu said. Rick Perry thinks he's a smart as Galileo. Or at least that some climate-denying scientists are. So he’d be pretty irked to see yet more evidence that global warming is real, if he actually read newspapers. As temperatures shift in the Andes, residents are looking to hardy crops, like huaña, that Andean people depended on historically. The president of Kiribati, an island nation scheduled to succumb …

Here's a cautionary tale for hybrid owners: A Prius-owning family in California lost its car to a joy-riding bear.  After wedging itself inside the car, the bear became stuck. Frustrated, hungry and mad, it kicked, scratched, bit and tore at the interior of the hybrid, trying to force a way out as easily as it found its way in. In its behind-the-wheel rampage, the bear ripped open the seats, bit a chunk out of the steering wheel and damaged the Prius' gear box, shifting the car into neutral. From the safety of the cabin, the awakened family watched helplessly as …

What do you do with a suspected man-eating crocodile the size of a small aircraft? Make it the highlight of an eco-tourism park. At least, that's what wildlife authorities in the Philippines are doing with a 21-foot crocodile they caught this weekend. Lord, if only Steve Irwin were here to see this.