Latest Articles

New stingray species has amazingly cool-looking skeleton

This looks like a candidate for the newest energy-efficient lightbulb, but it’s actually an x-ray of a recently-discovered freshwater stingray species.

Paul Ryan’s wind power hypocrisy

His arguments against the wind production tax credit would be much better applied to subsidies for Big Oil.

Climate change could lead to a rise in brain-eating parasites

Maybe nothing is weird about the rise in cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis. Or maybe climate change is making conditions more hospitable for this warm-water-loving parasite and we're all gonna dieeeeeeeeee.

‘I, Party Cup’: Help Grist make a crazy documentary

Who made the red party cup such a ubiquitous part of our disposable world -- and why'd they do it? Grist needs your help to fund this crazy documentary.

The Arctic is getting wetter and the Amazon is getting drier and cats are chasing dogs

Well, that last part isn't true.

Suicidal caterpillar is really dumb or really wants to get eaten

Is there a caterpillar equivalent of the Darwin Awards? Because this guy is a shoo-in. The Redditors who found this video have speculated that the caterpillar is infected with a mind-control parasite that needs to get inside the toad to thrive. Sounds crazy, yes, but there’s a parasite that’s been doing something similar to carpenter […]

After not seeing one for 33 years, Japanese government finally declares river otters extinct

When you truly love somebody that’s gone missing, you never admit that she’s gone, even if you’ve seen neither hide nor hair of her for 33 years. So now we know how the Japanese government feels about the Japanese river otter. Because the Ministry of the Environment just declared the river otter, last spotted in […]

Is the ‘natural’ label 100 percent misleading?

Do you let the words "all natural" sway your purchasing decisions? If so, you're not alone. Here's what the label really means (and doesn't).

Vladimir Putin dressed as a bird to save endangered cranes

There are 20 white cranes left in the world. But for one special day, there were 21. OK, the extra crane wasn’t really a crane. It was Russian President Vladimir Putin on a hang-glider, wearing a white jumpsuit and a crane nose.

When it comes to the weather, we are basically cavemen

Which is to say: lots of updates on the drought and the hurricanes -- including Isaac, who may be on his way back.