biodiversity
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One-fifth of creepy spineless animals could disappear forever
Most species are spineless piles of goo. That’s not a value judgment: About 80 percent of the world’s species are invertebrates, which actually do lack spines. Metaphorically, though, it is we who are the spineless piles of goo, for standing by while these creatures disappear. A new report from the Zoological Society of London found […]
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Biologists coax amazingly cute tiny rabbits back from the brink of disappearance
In Urban Dictionary, the fourth definition of “cute” is “pygmy rabbit.” Or actually, it’s probably some gross made-up sex act, but it SHOULD be “pygmy rabbit.” Just look at this thing! It fits into the palm of a human hand! But it has also been disappearing from its habitat in Washington State. Coyotes, badgers, weasels, […]
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12-year-old whose awesome speech floored 1992 Rio Summit returns to Rio+20 as a mom
At the original Rio summit,12-year-old Severn Suzuki became "the girl who silenced the world for six minutes" by giving a kick-ass speech to the assembled delegates.Twenty years later, her perspective has changed but her message hasn't.
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The top 10 new species of 2011, including a walking cactus and Spongebob Squarepants
The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University has convened a committee of scientists to determine the 10 best newly discovered species of 2011, and some of them are doozies. Even the monkey, which by all rights should be the cute one, is a noseless Voldemortian horror — and that’s not even to […]
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The best comic about industry and ecosystems you’ll ever read
Stuart McMillen, who wrote and drew that cool comic about reindeer on St. Matthew Island, has a new comic comparing human industry to ecological development after the Mt. St. Helens eruption. I know, it’s no gay X-Men wedding, but it’s really interesting! I promise!
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We’ve lost 30 to 70 percent of our wildlife since 1970
We love wildlife! We love watching it in high definition on our TV screens while David Attenborough says something droll to ease the trauma of looking at a whale penis. (SO FLEXIBLE.) But apparently we don’t love it so much that we’re dedicated to keeping it around. A new report [PDF] from the World Wildlife Fund […]
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City-dwellers’ allergies are so bad because they don’t have enough bacteria
This allergy season has been terrible. It seems like everyone I know has been running around with leaky eyes, even those of us who aren’t typically pollen-sensitive. Granted, there was an unusual amount of tree sperm in the air this year, but it seemed strange that everybody — really, everybody! — was afflicted. But a […]
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Critical List: Nigeria oil spill 60 times bigger than reported; Arctic Ocean methane
Amnesty International found documents showing that a 2008 Shell oil spill in Nigeria was 60 times bigger than the company claimed. And in Russia, 2,000 tons of oil spilled from a well over two days. But, really, who knows how much oil it was? The thawing Arctic Ocean is releasing gobs of methane into the atmosphere. Figuring out how […]
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Critical List: Heartland documents obtained using deception; killer whales OK with climate change
Peter Gleick, a water expert and climate scientist, says he obtained documents that revealed the inner workings of the Heartland Institute by soliciting them from the group under someone else’s name. A new study says that exploiting Canada’s tar sands might not exacerbate climate change as much as environmental groups fear. Mexico and the U.S. […]