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Researchers suggest virus may be culprit in honeybee deaths

Honeybee populations continue to die off in large numbers, and theories as to the cause abound: Climate change? Genetically modified crops? Cell phones? New research adds another theory to the list: Israeli acute paralysis virus.

Feds trying to boost native fish populations stock Colorado waterways with wrong fish

A 20-year effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore endangered native trout populations in Colorado would be commendable — if they hadn’t stocked some of the waterways with the wrong fish.

Breaking news

From CNN.

Meetings

How can there be so many?

One lucky sea turtle released back into the wild

Four hooks in the throat and belly, three hooks embedded in the skin, two feet of fishing line in the stomach -- one happy ending for a lucky loggerhead sea turtle.

After months of rehabilitation, rescuers in Florida finally released a female sea turtle, estimated between 40 and 50 years of age. She took off quickly, according to witnesses, hopefully never to again to be so hooked and entangled.

That's an optimistic point of view. Trouble is all the commercial fishing gear floating in our oceans creates a sort of gauntlet for sea turtles to swim through. It's one of the main factors contributing to sea turtles' endangered status. In fact, it is estimated that half of all adult loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean are likely to be caught on longline fishing hooks every year.

So while rescuers may never again encounter the sea turtle that affectionately became known as "Eve," chances are they will meet many more turtles. Maybe they'll name the next one Adam ... or better yet, how 'bout Andy?

Umbra on mini-dilemmas

Dear Umbra, Unfortunately, my nose runs a lot even when I am not sick. I’ve always wondered about the disposal of tissues and hope you can help calm my environmental nerves. Is it best to use a standard tissue and throw it in the trashcan, or blow my nose with toilet paper and flush it […]

British reality show dumps participants into a trash-heap of trouble

This is an interesting concept for a reality show: Eleven unsuspecting volunteers are left marooned on one of Britain’s biggest landfill sites for three weeks. Their challenge? To survive off the rubbish the rest of us have thrown out. How will they react when they are delivered to a huge, smelly British landfill site instead […]

Al Gore on making room for outrage

This quote from Al Gore is so apt I had to pass it along: I have a lot of friends who share the following problem with me: Our sense of outrage is so saturated that when a new outrage occurs, we have to download some existing outrage into an external hard drive in order to […]

National Park Service may ignore public opinion on snowmobiles in parks

Speaking of things we’ve been over and over, there’s the issue of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park. (It’s another controversy Grist has covered since the early days while managing to not repeat a headline. Can we have a medal? Maybe a cookie?) Enough with the snowmobiles already? Not bloody likely! Today brings the news that […]

Appeals court overturns ruling, allows Navy to test underwater sonar

It’s the controversy that keeps on controversing: The U.S. Navy wants to test underwater mid-frequency sonar. Marine advocates say such testing effs up whales and other marine mammals. Repeat. (Grist has been writing about this issue since 1999, and we have never reused a headline. Thank you.) Anyhoodle, here we go again: last month, a […]