biodiversity
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Sand kitten gives hope for near-extinct species, is ridiculously cute
The Israeli sand cat is extinct in the wild, so its only hope is breeding programs in captivity. The birth of this stupifyingly cute fuzzball at Safari Zoo in Tel Aviv is therefore really good news — it could help put the species on the path to recovery and reintroduction. But mostly we just like to look […]
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Critical List: China makes solar power cheap; U.K. fishing fleet wastes cod
China is making solar power cheap in order to drive solar growth.
Since 1963, U.K. fishing boats have tossed $1 billion worth of dead or dying cod overboard to keep within their quotas.
In Washington State, what The New York Times calls "the largest dam removal project in American history" will destroy two dams and help salmon regrow their population. -
Over 1,000 new species discovered in New Guinea
Researchers found more than 1,000 new species in New Guinea over the ten years from 1998 to 2008, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund. Previously unknown species -- including an 8-foot river shark, a frog with fangs, and pink dolphin -- were discovered at a rate of two a week. But New Guinea could lose half its forest to logging by 2020, and already some of these new species are so rare that they went onto the endangered list as soon as they were discovered.
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Critical List: ‘Irrational exuberance’ about shale gas; doubling fuel economy in the U.S
The New York Times obtained government documents that call natural gas companies' enthusiasm about shale gas and hydrofracking "irrational exuberance.”
That exuberance has convinced some lawmakers, though. Nine of them are writing to President Obama to ask him to push for more gas drilling.
In other technology-that’s-not-actually-going-to-save-us news, China's building a $1.5 billion clean coal plant, the first commercial clean coal plant of this size. -
How humans are forcing other species to evolve
Presumably everybody knows the basic depressing mechanisms of natural selection: In response to a cruel and unforgiving environment, those creatures that can adapt best or are already best-suited survive to reproduce, and everyone else dies horribly. It's all red-in-tooth-and-claw-y, and humans are well out of it, right? Yeah, well, about that: Turns out that now […]
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Awesome bird records its own habitat destruction
Robert Krulwich has a post up about the superb lyrebird (real name!), which is COMPLETELY RIDIC. What's so superb? How about the ability to mimic any noise it hears with astonishing faithfulness, that do anything for you? It's the auditory equivalent of that girl from Heroes who could copy anything she saw on TV and […]
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Me, in NYT’s Room for Debate, on the Endangered Species Act
Photo: Reed LakefieldLast week, Todd Woody wrote a great piece in The New York Times about the growing crisis around the Endangered Species Act, as the Fish and Wildlife Service is overwhelmed with new applications for species in danger. NYT’s Room for Debate asked me and some other folks to weigh in on the piece. […]
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Endangered wolves sacrificed for budget deal
Although Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama stood firm against Republican attempts to repeal clean air and clean water protections, wolves (such as the famous Limpy) in the Northern Rockies weren’t so lucky. Under pressure from ranching interests in Montana and Idaho, as well as anti-wolf zealots in those states, Reid and Obama […]
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A scientist dishes on the wild kingdom beneath our feet
Creature from the underworld: Scanning electron micrograph of an adult water bear (tardigrade).Photo: Goldstein labCross-posted from Cool Green Science. Water bears? Fungi that strangle worms? Roots that send off reconnaissance soldiers (that somehow report back)? There’s a world of bizarre organisms under our feet — millions of species that are also critical for life on […]