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Researchers have discovered what they believe to be a grandfather of snakes, which descended from terrestrial rather than marine ancestors. “It’s the missing-link snake between snakes and lizards,” says Nicholas Longrich, a postdoctoral fellow in the geology and geophysics department at Yale University and the lead author of a paper published in the journal Nature. […]
Biodiversity helps keep the world’s ecosystem in balance, and if threatened, it could bring forth destabilization leading to a chain reaction of events, mostly irreversible. Crops would fail, pests and viral infections might surface, CO2 retention might decrease and more – basically, the Earth will have a tougher time fending for itself if its biodiversity […]
During just four days, from July 8 to July 12, Greenland’s total ice sheet surface subjected to melting rose from 40% to a whooping 97%. Basically the whole Greenland ice sheet was melting during this time frame. According to NASA, a situation similar to this mid-July phenomenon hasn’t been ever recorded in the three decades […]
A new research has found after analyzing the genomes of polar bears and brown bears that the two species interbred, after the two species split some 5 million years ago, during periods of warmer climate. Recent evidence suggests this is happening today as well, as an effect of global warming. The team of scientists from Pennsylvania […]
Squids and cephalopods, in general, might not be the sexiest animals out there, but their mating systems are quite interesting,
Researchers at the University of Delaware and the Canadian Ice Service recently reported that an ice island, whose surface is twice that of Manhattan, broke off from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier, one of the two largest glaciers left in Greenland connecting the great Greenland ice sheet with the ocean via a floating ice shelf. The 46-square-mile giant iceberg broke […]
Magnificently beautiful, the elusive snow leopard is a large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia. Adapted to living in high altitudes, deep in the mountains, and preferring typically inaccessible areas for humans as their dens, has made snow leopards extremely hard to spot, and more importantly keep track off, since it’s an endangered […]
A while ago, we started this animal award, giving the first one to the mimic octopus, and the second one to the amazing Siberian salamander, which can survive after being frozen in temperatures as low as -45 degrees Celsius. Each month, we’ll highlight an animal so special and unique it just makes you go ‘Wow!’. […]
A raging issue at the moment, in both government bureaus and bar chats alike, is global warming. Is it just a natural occurring event, part of the Earth’s climate cycle or, indeed, human-induced? Most scientists have repeatedly claimed, backed by scientific evidence, that the ever rising global temperature levels, along with various calamities sparked by a chain reaction, are […]
According to a recently publicized rapport by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), renewable energy sources could account for as much as 80% of the US’s electricity demand by 2050. The rapport signals the various difficulties that need to be overcome to reach this goal, and note that while 80% might be very challenging […]
A groundbreaking climate change study, which contains data 2,500 times more detailed than previous studies, predicts weather patterns from 2041 to 2060 in the Los Angeles region. Findings show that the region is expected to heat by an average of 4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of this century. This implies tripling the number of […]
The cheetah is the Bugatti Veyron of the animal kingdom, capable of reaching speeds as high as 29m/s (65mph). Actually, in a 0 to 60 mph race, most cars would have a hard time in out-pacing the fastest land animal in the world. How does the cheetah manage to outstrip all its other animal contenders, even those […]
Researchers from the Natural History Museum in Madrid counted chinstrap penguins in Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands in 1991-1992 and again in 2008-2009. They discovered a frightening decline in penguin population in the area, with one species culled by more than a third. The most affected species at hand is the chinstrap penguin, named so after the black strip […]
Today, only 10% of the currently published scientific papers are open access; freely available to the public online in their entirety. A recently published report commissioned by the UK’s Minister of Science encourages scientists to publish their works in open access journal and claims the benefits of an open access system outweigh the downsides. The […]
Carnivorous plants may soon have to give up their meaty habits and turn veggie, as a recent study found that carnivours plants in Swedish bogs have significantly reduced their preying behavior, due to nitrogen pollution. The sundew drosera rotundifolia is one of the most common carnivours plant species, growing across much of Northern Europe in rain-fed bogs. […]
Honeybees are one of the most crucial members of the ecosystem, pollinating crops and plant cultures all around the world. Various studies conducted in the past couple of years have shown an alarming dwindling of the world bee population, with some locations being hit more aggressively than others. The main factor linked to this bee genocide seems to be pesticides […]
NASA announced a truly unexpected phenomena, observed under the shrinking Arctic ice: a massive algae bloom under the ice. Not long ago, the life of this crucial plant seemed to suffer greatly, a worrying phenomena, as algae produces much of the world’s oxygen. The same year that NASA researchers launched the Icescape expedition to the […]
This month, the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, an United Nations conference where various issues where addressed like the systematic scrutiny of patterns of production, alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuels, new reliance on public transportation systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions or the growing […]
Fed by ignorance, hypocrisy and frustration, members of an international group of eco-anarchist have, during the past few years, plotted and attacked various scientific facilities and scientists alike, injuring many in their attempts and seeding fear, in an anti-technology and science ploy. The violent attacks were self-attributed by the various organisations working in close tandem, […]
Yesterday marked the 40th Global Environment day, and this year’s theme was ‘Green economy’ – a sector in which, by far, Europe leads the way. When it comes to green energy and reducing the impact industry has on the environment, Denmark and Scotland stand out, by far – just think about Samso, the world’s ‘greenest […]
The Governor of the Honolulu county signed the law passed by the local council, banning plastic bags altogether – thus making Hawaii the first state ever to do so. There are four counties in Hawaii – and all of them set a great example together; the thing is, this was not done by state legislature, […]
The big money out there is invested in climate change denial, as major oil companies fight to eliminate climate protection laws or intentionally fund studies which deny climate change; and it’s been a tough few weeks for them. More and more independent studies are highlighting the amount of damage human-caused global warming is caused, and […]
Typically, in the tundras, tree growth is hindered by very low temperatures, and usually, in the tundra, vegetation comprises of dwarf shrubs, sedges and grasses, lichens, etc. However, according to a recent study, plants and shrubs which colonized the Arctic tundra are starting to turn into small trees, a process which will accelerate global warming […]
Besides ever thinning ice, permafrost melting, soot deposits, habitat loss, you might as well add another significant factor threatening the arctic ecosystem – mercury. For some time, the alarmingly high mercury concentrations in the regions were rather unaccounted for, in part, however a new research by scientists at Harvard’s Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group suggests that […]
A group of researchers at University of British Columbia and the Smithsonian Institution have discovered a new sensory organ in rorqual whales, a subspecies of baleen whales, which also includes the largest animal that has ever lived, the blue whale, capable of reaching 150 tonnes. The scientists involved in the study claim that this organ plays a vital role in […]
Remember the Heartland Institute advertising campaign? The one climate scientists to criminals and terrorist? If you don’t let’s just refresh a little: they displayed this kind of ads in Chicago, displaying criminals supporting climate change, suggesting that all those who support climate change are criminals. Of course, this raised outrage throughout the entire world, and […]
A new research from a team of international marine geoscientists has found that seagrass meadows, found in coastal regions, can store up to twice as much carbon as temperate or tropical forests. The scientists involved in the study, thus, believe that seagrasses can potentially become a viable solution to climate change, if scaled and preserved […]
In an absolutely remarkable discovery, Professor Yun Hang Hu, along with associates at Michigan Technological University, have discovered a chemical reaction which can turn the alarmingly ever increasing greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into a solid-state semiconductor (Li2CN2), while also releasing energy in the process. You couldn’t ask for something better. CO2 is an extremely pesky compound for […]
A new study published by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that pollution leads thunderstorm clouds to capture more heat than in normal, clean air conditions, thus becoming a contributing factor to global warming. Thunderclouds or deep convective clouds, by the scientific term, generally form and develop in any geographic location and […]
Scientists have uncovered pieces of fossilized amber containing tiny female insects called thrips, which upon closer inspections were found to have particles of pollen dusted over them. The insects found are around 100 million years old, officially making them the oldest pollination record ever found. During the lower Cretaceous Period, which corresponds to the recently discovered […]
According to the World Wildlife Fund‘s annual Living Planet report, humans are using Earth’s resources at a rate 1.5 times greater than the rate of replenishment. “During the 1970s, humanity as a whole passed the point at which the annual Ecological Footprint matched the Earth’s annual biocapacity. This situation is called “ecological overshoot”, and has continued since […]
The Cross River gorilla is a critically endangered gorilla species, native to the border region of Nigeria-Cameroon. Today, only about 250 to 300 individuals are alive, due to habitat loss and poaching, making it the rarest of all four gorilla species. It’s so rare and elusive, that no one has ever been able to record […]
Horses are arguably one of the most helpful animals man has ever managed to domesticate. At first they were used as source of meat and milk, but it was soon evident that horses were a lot more suited as labor animals than as a direct food medium. Important agricultural advancements were made possible thanks to horses, and […]
Plants are flowering much, much faster than scientists predicted in response to climate change, United States research shows, which could have absolutely devastating effects on food chains and ecosystems. Global warming is having a significant, indirect impact on hundreds of plant and animal species around the world, changing breeding, migratory and feeding patterns. This is […]
So much for reasoned debate and scientific discussions: a controversial group bent on discrediting climate science revealed several billboards that compared people interested in climate change with terrorists. The Heartland Institute, a Chicago based group posted these billboards which displayed Ted Kaczynski, a terrorist whose bombing campaign lasted almost 20 years, killing three people and […]
Last year, we reported on one of the most gruesome and horrific acts that goes on in nature; it seems so unreal, like if some sort of SciFi monstrous scenario transcended into the realm of reality, that one has a hard time wrapping his head around it. Yes, as some of you might have read previously, I’m […]
During the tumultuous Cretaceous and Jurassic periods if you could only choose one word to describe the world, it would’ve certainly be ‘big’. Big dinosaurs, big plants, big trees, big fish and big insects, of course. Chinese scientists have found almost perfectly preserved fossils of two previously unknown extinct flea species in Inner Mongolia, which are roughly […]
A team of researchers at Penn State University has identified 24 new species of skinks, a subspecies of lizards, native to the Caribbean Islands, turning the region’s fauna from one of the smallest lizard groups in the world to one of the largest. However, half of these new species are considered already extinct or very […]
The Amur leopard is a beautiful leopard subspecies native to the region of the Russian far east, which since 1996 has been classified as critically endangered. Only a handful of specimens remain today, however a photo which surprised an Amur leopard in China suggests that the species’ numbers are steadily increasing, and conservation efforts are […]
After the great dinosaur extinction some 65 million years ago, mammals finally had their big shot as numerous niches became free for the taking. Thus, from mouse size, some mammal species surfaced which were as large as a bus, the so called mammal megafauna, like mammoths, giant sloths or saber-tooth tigers. However, a dire trial of their […]
A new source of methane, a gas which is many times more destructive for the environment than CO2 has been identified by scientists over vast areas of the Arctic, especially over the areas where the sea has melted. Researchers found massive amounts of methane being released in the atmosphere from the ocean through cracks in […]
A team of international scientists claim that they’ve found evidence of the first non-human species that cultivates planets for non-food purposes. The extremely fine feathered bowerbirds, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea, display an unique courtship behaviour, where males build a home-like structure, called bower, and decorate it with sticks, little stones, and brightly coloured […]
As temperature continues to increase, and the prognosis seems dire for the next decades, researchers worry about the unexpected side effects this could have on our society; the rise of the price of corn, especially under the latest biofuel mandates, is one of these effects. Biodiesel and corn ethanol are just two of the ways […]
One of the cutting edge technologies currently used today in manufacturing allows for printing materials directly onto a surface to create electrically functioning devices which are very thin and flexible. The best example of such an application are organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), widely used as displays for most new generation smartphones commercially available now. The […]
In the past 3 months, over 3000 dead dolphins have been washed ashore on the coasts of Peru, and this worrying trend continues to grow. So far, the average is about 30 per day, but a significant growth has been reported in the past few days. While dead dolphins washing up are not entirely uncommon, […]
Mexico, one of the biggest countries in the world, has followed suit with neighboring California and wants to adopt the green climate law, which already passed the chamber of deputies by an overwhelming 128-10 vote, and is heading towards the Senate with excellent chances. Having a country like Mexico, with some 120 million people, of […]
I don’t know if you’re thinking it, but I definitely am: lizardmen! I’m scared of lizardmen just like the next guy, but all my life I’ve lived with the idea that they are just figments of the imagination which sometimes occur in Star Trek episodes or RPG games – but according to Ronald Breslow, Ph.D., […]
IBM has teamed up with Zapadoslovenska energetika (ZSE), the biggest electric company in Slovakia, for a feasibility study which aims to prepare Bratislava, the nation’s capitol, for plug-in electric vehicles. With this in mind, the companies will look at the best way to develop a “green highway” between Bratislava and the neighboring Austrian city of Vienna, which is about […]
The atmosphere is getting more and more packed with tension between the two Koreas, as satellite images revealed North Korea is digging a huge underground tunnel, in what appears to be preparation for a new nuclear test. Nuclear tests raise global concern North Korea performed two previous tests, both of which were significantly smaller than […]
A remarkable paleontological discovery surfaced from China recently, after scientists reported they’ve found fossils belonging to the Yutyrannus huali,a very close relative of the Tyrannosaurs Rex, which prove that its entire enormous bus-sized body was covered in feathers. This officially makes it the biggest animal covered in feathers ever found, and also forces paleontologists to rethink […]
