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Census finds just 219 white sharks near California

Sharks are some of the most fascinating creatures to ever have “walked” the face of the planet; the best argument for this claim would be that they stand alons on the top of the food chain, with no natural enemy, other than humans, of course. Among the species of sharks, a few stand out as […]

Iceland to build longest underwater cable, sell renewable energy

Iceland is definitely one weird country; it is extremely rich in geothermal and volcanic energy, and has access to a significant quantity of fish, but other than that, resources are extremely scarce. At the end of 2008, the economy collapsed, with all major banks going bankrupt. Since then, they have been desperately trying to rise […]

The emperor: major penguin colony disappears

It’s another bad omen for life on Earth, as a colony of imperial penguins from the Antarctica peninsula has disappeared, probably due to the warming of ice caused by global warming. It was expected that penguins would greatly suffer from the warming, but this is the first documented case ever of the disappearance of a […]

Researchers look at hibertnating bears for the first time

Bears are some of the most amazing and loved animals out there, and to find out that up until a few months ago nobody made a thorough study about their hibernating was really sad for me. Until this, almost everything we knew about hibernating was that… well, bears do it’; they go into their dens […]

Canadian husky dog slaughter shows the unknown face of the olympics

The Canadian olympics of 2010 will forever be stained with the blood of 100 husky dogs who were brutally killed with a knife and a shotgun, because they were no longer profitable. For Canadians and tourists, the blue eyed huskies who took them on sleds were nothing less than icons; but for Outdoor Adventures, the […]

New drilling method opens vast oil fields in the US

Numerous oil fields that could become an extremely valuable resource in the US and in the world have been out of reach ever since they were discovered; but that is all about to change thanks to a new drilling method that is currently being developed. The new drilling could help reduce oil imports for the […]

Haiti spreading cholera and maybe polio; now will we care ?

It’s been a little over a year since the earthquake that caused so much damage and cost so much lives, and people are starting to wonder what the situation is like in Haiti; or actually, not so many people are wondering about that. United Nation’s special envoy, former Canadian Governor-General Michaelle Jean sums it up […]

Germany sells a vision for new generation green toys

Toys made out of recycled materials are of course a great initiative and can teach your kids a lot, while being very cheap and also fun, but Germany is set to show the world that things can get even better – way better. The latest trend in German green toys have solar panels and only […]

Animals all over the world against noise pollution

Pollution can take numerous and unexpected shapes; one of the not-so-deadly, but still extremely unpleasant types is noise pollution. You probably don’t notice it because it’s so common, but it’s a really noisy world out there; if for a few days you were to go somewhere far away from all the fuss and noise that […]

Millions of dead fish wash up on the coast of Brazil

Another mystery, even bigger than the one with the birds in Arkansas is puzzling researchers from all over the world, as dead fish hit the coast of Brazil, with CNN reporting that there are over 2 million dead fish in Chesapeake Bay. Experts have first suggested that this is probably caused by a combination of […]

Italy becomes the first country to totally drop plastic bags

You probably don’t know it yet, but our planet has a major problem with plastic. I wasn’t able to find an accurate statistic of how much of this is caused by regular ordinary plastic bags that everybody uses, but it’s definitely a considerable number. After a laudable initiative taken on by the city of Seattle, […]

NASA satellite shows awesome phytoplankton bloom

When NASA satellites and biology come together in the same sentence, you just know something awesome is going to come up; this was the case with a phytoplankton bloom observed off the coast of Argentina. Two strong currents stirred the needed combination of nutrients, sald and microscopic organisms, and then sunlight did all the rest […]

The PeePoo bag: don't poop where you eat

Nairobi, Kenya is home to one of the world’s biggest slums, more than one million people living in subhuman conditions in the African state capital. I’ve seen and read a lot of reports from there, and other African states alike, and the situation is indeed dire. Imagine having nothing to eat – now imagine having […]

Fisheries have no more place to expand on Earth

A new study that just makes you say ‘Wow!’ was published in the online journal PLoS ONE by researchers from the University of British Columbia; they concluded that our planet has absolutely no more place to expand fisheries after charting the systematic development of the industry. The study is the first one of this kind, […]

Venus sulphur atmosphere holds warning for Earth

Despite the obvious differences, Venus has a lot in common with our Mother Earth, and we can learn a lot from our neighboring planet that can be really useful in the future; such is the case with the high-altitude layer of sulphur dioxide discovered by ESA’s Venus Express. This was a mystery that caused quite […]

The amazing Tuatara

The tuatara is not an iguana, it’s not a lizard, and it is very, very different than any other reptile alive today on Earth. In fact, recent studies suggest that it’s pretty different from any other vertebrate. It’s home is in New Zealand, which is known for eccentric life forms of all kinds: the kiwi, […]

New technique sheds light on how snakes "fly"

It’s a well known fact that snakes can “fly”, gliding even more than 100 meters sometimes from branch to branch, but exactly how they are able to achieve such a remarkable feat has dazzled researchers for quite a while. A new study using an unprecedented filming, 3D modeling, real and fake snakes showed how snakes […]

Record High Greenhouse Emission Rates for 2010

A week before the UN Copenhagen climate summit, a disheartening new study conducted by scientists from University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, along with the University of East Anglia, shows that the world greenhouse gas emissions could reach record high in 2010, outranking the previous 2008 high. The data supports the idea that as […]

How we can really tackle global warming? "Cool It" (movie trailer)

When Al Gore’s famous documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth” was released it was intended to sensify the public towards the impeding danger of global warming. What it did in turn was to sprout panic and institute panic worldwide by stating that only an immediate, draconian response will save our planet from almost certain doom. Of […]

Whales suffer from sun burns too

You know those days when you go to the beach, and it’s just too hot outside, so you have to use some cream and all ? Well, it’s a little harder if you’re a whale. A recent study conducted that a whole lot of whales displayed blisters caused by sun damage. Laura Martinez-Levasseur, from the […]

1 in 5 vertebrates threatened by extinction

About twenty years ago, pretty much every nation on the globe agreed that biodiversity has to be protected, and significantly reduce the damage done to it by 2010. Well, as you probably know, it’s 2010, and there have been no big results – quite the opposite. More and more animals are going extinct each year, […]

Iran almost completed their first nuclear reactor. Should we worry ?

This seems to be the one of the most asked questions these days; what’s my opinion on it ? You should worry about it just as much as you worry about a brick suddenly falling in your head – probably less. After decades of development and hard work (yeah, that’s right, people from all around […]

Drought may be a big problem in decades to come

The problem of a water shortage has been on the table for quite a while now, and as time passes, it is becoming more and more of a probability. Especially the United States and other heavily populated and industrailized countries are threatened by this issue. A detailed analysis conducted by National Center for Atmospheric Research […]

Hungary: the toxic red sludge has reached the Danube

In case you don’t know, a few days ago a toxic red sludge “broke free” from a Hungarian metal plant reservoir, and the damage it has done is huge. Several people have been killed, over a hundred have been injured, and the damage done to the nearby houses and the environment is very significant. But […]

Scientists find new bugs and frogs in Papua New Guinea

It’s always nice when new species are discovered, and this time it was an expedition from Papua New Guinea that made the discovery. A frog no bigger than a peanut, a brilliant green katydid with bright pink eyes and a white tipped tail mouse are the stars of the over 200 newly discovered species. The […]

A fifth of all plants threatened by extinction

It seems that more and more species are threatened by extinction, and this doesn’t apply only to animals. A recent analysis conducted the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew together with the Natural History Museum, London and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) concluded that 22% of all the plants in the world are […]

The 100 year old Belgian talking tree

Well the title is a bit deceiving, so let me clear this out a bit: this 100 year old Belgian tree doesn’t talk, in the old fashioned way. He does however, run a website, have a few thousand facebook friends and he tweets pretty often. I’ve gotta tell you, I absolutely loved this idea ! […]

No, what you're seeing isn't a road

When I saw this picture, it was morning, my eyes hadn’t opened up quite yet, and I thought “what’s so special of a picture of a road?”. But then it hit me. It wasn’t a road. It’s a Louisiana waterway literally covered with dead fish, crabs, stingray, eel, and there have been reports of even […]

Study shows tiger "clusters" are the last hope for species

As the dramatic decline of the tigers becomes more and more abrupt, it seems more and more possible that pretty soon, we will be living in a world without tigers. Numerous plans and various approaches have been taken, but the results have been pretty scarce so far, and the fate of these wonderful felines seems […]

3D supercomputer simulation predicts disastrous outcome for L.A. on the next "Big One"

The San Andreas fault is notorious for its unstable seismic nature, being the center stage for America’s most devastating earthquakes as well as the object of imagination for different artists. We’ve all marveled and even laughed at movies, magazines or comic books depicting scenes like a earthquake ravaged L.A. or a newly formed island state […]

Extremely rare baby seahorse sighting

Seahorses are just as elusive as they are cute, so diver Neil Garrick-Maidment, the executive director of the Seahorse Trust was absolutely thrilled when he spotted a 1.5 inch long baby female seahorse “clinging onto a piece of seagrass”. This trule remarkable sighting was made in the waters of Great Britain, in the Dorset waters, […]

Ecuador will receive 3.6 billion $ not to drill for oil in a historic pact

The race for oil drilling is tougher than ever, and the effects are quite often extremely damaging for the environment (I’m sure pretty much everybody knows about the BP oil spill already). However, the UN has come up with an initiative, the first of its kind, that promises to protect at least a handful of […]

Octopus with venom that works in freezing temperatures discovered

Boy, you just can’t have enough octopus, that’s for sure – they’re really amazing creatures, that often surprise us. Now, a venomous octopus living in the frozen waters of Antarctica is definitely awesome, but how is this useful? Well, according to Bryan Fry, of the University of Melbourne, it is. He and his team have […]

Ethiopia's forest area triples

Ethiopian authorities announced that thanks to large-scale reforestation campaigns the forest cover of their country has tripled since 2000. The African country has suffered from severe droughts in the past, and their solution to this problem turned out to be just great. “Ethiopia was able to increase its forest coverage to nine percent now from […]

A World Without Tigers: 3 down, 6 to go!

I’m not sure if most of you are aware of this, but consider this: there are only 3,200 tigers left in the world! Almost three times fewer than there were 10 years ago and more than 30 times fewer than 100 years ago (back then 100.000 tigers roamed freely through Asian jungles. This includes the […]

Bill Gates is paying for artificial clouds to fight greenhouse gases

To be quite honest, I was never really fond of the man, but ever since he quit his executive positions at Microsoft, I’m starting to like him more and more. The reason is not that he’s giving money away, but the causes he’s giving the money for. I’m not really sure how practical this idea […]

Puma replaces shoe box with reusable bags

I had some serious thought on whether to write this or not. It’s not a paid post or anything, and quite frankly, I’ve never owned anything from Puma. But I was absolutely thrilled to find out about their initiative to replace the shoe boxes with reusable bags. It’s exactly this kind of small thing, but […]

James Lovelock: Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change

James Lovelock is one of the world’s most brilliant minds alive at the moment; he developed numerous technologies for NASA, and currently dedicates most of his efforts to the environment and futurism. He is largely known for the development of the Gaia Hypothetis. Well, according to the man… we’re just too stupid to prevent climate […]

The March award for awesome animal goes to THE MIMIC OCTOPUS

The mimic octopus, Thaumoctopus mimicus is a species of octopus that grows up to 60 cm (2 feet) in length and is naturally colored with brown and white stripes and spots. So what’s so special about it? The mimic octopus can literally mimic the physical appearance and movement of fifteen different species, that we know of […]

NASA is stunned to find life beneath 183 meters of Antarctic ice

At nearly 200 meters below the ice, there is no light, the temperature is way below 0 degrees, and scientists were expecting to find nothing more than a handful of microbes – and for good reason. So it’s easy to understand why they were so surprised to find not a single (evolved) life form, but […]

Vancouver 2010: probably the greenest Olympics ever

Well I have to say, I’m really thrilled about the Winter Olympics that have just started, and even though they don’t get as much hype as the Summer Olympics, they still attract tens of millions viewers (or even more). It’s also really great to see they’re being held in a city like Vancouver. Why am […]

Underwater... lakes !

Boy I’ve gotta tell you, my jaw really dropped when I heard this one. There are actual lakes, on the bottom of oceans, especially in the Gulf of Mexico region; they’ve got their own shores and all. The brine water of these lakes actually hosts unique wildlife, creating an absolutely amazing environment. The fact that […]

Giant squids take to California

Yes ladies and gents, giant squids are all over the California beaches. Each of the squids weighs about 40 pounds, but some of them reach 60 and even more than that. I haven’t been able to find out what’s up with them, or why they gathered in such numbers, but according to scientists, this happens […]

13 countries make a plan to save tigers

Just a short while ago, I was telling you about the extremely worrying decline of the Siberian tigers (and not just them). It’s obvious that if nothing changes, the odds are they’ll be going extinct, perhaps even during our lifetime (which is the case for numerous mammals, actually. Russia and a dozen other Asian countries […]

3 legged serval rescued nearby Arizona desert

At a first glance, this doesn’t seem like much. Just an animal rescued. But if you look more carefully, I think you’ll find it’s more than this; it’s a symbol. A symbol of how people don’t care about animals, regardless of how rare they are and how well they can take care of themselves. This […]

Lion, Tiger and Bear share impressing friendship

They’ve known each other basically all their lives, but the early days weren’t happy at all. Found during a police raid at the home of a drug lord, Leo, Shere Khan and Baloo tied an extremely unusual bond. They now live their peaceful lives together in the habitat built specifically for them at Noah’s Ark […]

The girl who silenced the world for five minutes

Her name is Severn Suzuki, and here you have one of perhaps the most impressive speeches of all time, delivered by her (only a 12 year old at the time) at a UN meeting, at the Earth Summit in 1992. [After 5 minutes] An incredible story Severn Suzuki was born in a remarkable family, with […]

Just in case you didn't know, there's a garbage island twice as big as France in the Pacific Ocean

I was surprised to talk to a bunch of people today and find out they didn’t know about this, so I figured this is definitely something worth knowing. Here’s the deal. There’s a whole lot of garbage floating around; a whole lot ! Some are above the surface, some are below. What happens is they […]

What YOU can do to help Haiti

As you probably know, a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, basically destroying the country. The situation there was extremely bad even before, but now hospitals are down, there’s no water and no food for a very big part of the population and no way to receive medical treatment; it’s estimated that there are between 100.000 and […]

Puffins in trouble as numbers dwindle

Where do birds go in the winter? That’s a question many of us asked, as kids. Well puffins are currently suffering from an increase in winter mortality, which is probably caused by the worsening of conditions in the North Sea. Using geolocation technology, this study tracked puffins and found that the population decreased by 30% […]