A journal of science, thought, and action.

Sep

2017

A Giraffe Boosts Conservation

A white giraffe becomes a wildlife icon.

Sep

2017

Cassini's Last Bow

The spacecraft's exploration of Saturn has ended.

Archive Highlights

On Beauty, and How to See It

One of the greatest all-time thinkers on what it means to look deeply, and think deeply, about beauty. Our Video Pick of the Week.

7 Jun 2013

Video Highlights

Recent Archive Highlights

A Monumental President

26 August 2017

A Monumental President

Two new national monuments were designated.

9 August 2017

Fishing for Plastic

It takes garbage to make a boat.

8 August 2017

Intelligence of Plants

Amazing new understandings of intelligence in plants.

2 June 2017

The Colours of Australia are Fading

Major changes have occurred recently to Australian forests.

26 May 2017

Super Coral...a Super Hero?

Heat-tolerant corals may help reef restoration.

17 May 2017

Replanting Corals

Some people are taking positive action today to reverse the damage caused by climate change and building resilience for tomorrow.

Sea Mountains

Sea-mounts are found everywhere under the oceans. Some are volcanoes that can erupt dramatically.

3560

Boiled Lobster

In 2012, ocean surface temperatures along the northeast were the highest recorded in 150 years.

5245

Deep Ecology

Ecosystems can be studied at micro or macro scales. Each approach provides different but important ecological information.

8896

Photographer Created an Original View of the West

By Reilly Capps
Photographers take a lot of things from events and landscapes -- images -- but they can, if they’re good, sometimes give something to those landscapes: meaning. Here are some images of the Old West that you've probably never seen, and which helped document and half-create a mythic place.

4087

Fog

Fog is ecologically critical for several ecosystems. It is also beautiful.

12166

Earth Day...everyday

Sebastião Salgado's new Genesis project required 8 years to complete. It is a prefect reminder of what is important about Earth Day and should be everyday.

5531

Coastal Zones

Vegetation is the under-appreciated protector of the coastlines. It also serves as critical wildlife habitat.

2787

The power of photographs in a national tragedy

By Reilly Capps

In this day and age, it’s hard to hide. There are pictures of you being taken all the time. Perhaps seeing pictures of themselves all over TV and the Internet sent these brothers fleeing -- robbing, shooting, carjacking, firefighting, sprinting. (As of this moment, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is on the run. UPDATE: He is now in custody.) What this shows me is the power of photographs and videos to affect reality. The Boston Marathon bombers may have been caught in part because of photography, in a way that other terrorists like Eric Rudolph and Tim McVeigh weren't. It shows the good that photos and videos can do. I didn’t always feel this way.

2252

Image Gatherer

Tim Hetherington was that special breed of photographer. He wasn't particularly interested in photography.

2136

The Sharp Point of the Drill

Colorado is waking up to the downside of the natural gas boom, and it’s tweaking the state’s politics.

2272

The Power of Image

Typically, Riled Up prefers using photography and video to tell stories on science, the environment, and natural resource issues. However, people have been asked to provide any photos of videos of the Boston bombings to help investigators solve the crime.

3609

International Year of Water, 2013

"We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one." -- Jacques Cousteau

6346

Water Woes

Water resources are abused and conflicts are widespread. As the song-line says: "You don't know what you've got, 'Til it's gone."

6575

Proof that Global Warming is a Lie ... Or Else That You Should Brush More

By Reilly Capps

I don't get why it's Christian not to believe in global warming. I don't understand what those two things have to do with each other.

1726

Ice Free in 35 Years

NOAA has predicted that the Arctic Ocean will be ice free in summers by 2050, if not sooner.

2645

The Frog That Will Help You Win an Argument

By Reilly Capps

Darwin's frog is a walking anecdote. The next time someone says, "Men -- they're all so lazy and irresponsible," you can say "No! Look at Darwin's frog! There's a dude who looks out for his kid! Forget what you've seen on the TV show 'Cops'! Look to Darwin's frog, and renew your faith in the male gender!"

2663

Warning Labels, and Not Just on GMO's

By Reilly Capps

They want to label GMOs, the way we do cigarettes. (Even though GMOs don't hurt you.)

Meanwhile, all kinds of dodgy things go unlabeled -- like this dog.

4203

Re-visiting Everest

2013 is the 50th anniversary of the first American mountaineering team to summit Mt. Everest in 1963. Research and exploration still continue on the world's highest peak that tell new stories of climate change and the environment.

3225

The Most Astounding Fact -- at right

See the Most Astounding Fact, in our Video Pick of the Week, at right.

1538

When an Optical Illusion Isn't

A photographer can produce an optical illusion if their camera is positioned in the right spot.

5866

A Million Taxis

You ever sit in a giant traffic jam, alone, in freeway that has become a parking lot, boxed in by cars flatulating noxious fumes, your only companion the radio DJ’s who are dumber than dingleberries? Don’t you feel like driving to city hall and stomping some city planner’s throat, or hocking a loogie on Robert Moses’s grave? “Thanks a lot for the BQE, jackass.” And do you ever catch the eye of a driver next to you? Ever notice that you’re in a car alone and they’re in a car alone and two-thirds of the drivers in their cars alone? And don’t you wonder if they’re thinking the same thing you’re thinking, which is: “I am going to murder someone.”

No, that’s too harsh. That’s not what you’re thinking (not usually). You’re thinking: “When did we all agree to live stuck in traffic? There has got to be a better way.” Now, a number of tech entrepreneurs are trying to harness the power of mobile phones to coordinate rides between drivers and riders.

3240

1600 Years to Create...25 Years to Destroy

An ice core extending 1600 years has been extracted from an icecap in Peru. It is like finding a "Rosetta Stone" for paleo-climate in the tropical Andes.

1857

Visualizing Ice

The Arctic sea ice maximum is one of the lowest on record this winter.

4968

Bungling About

The Bungle Bungles are located a remote corner of a remote continent. They are not easy to access.

7541

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