A Step Forward in Stingray Science
A California researcher and his team simulate stepping on round rays to learn more about how, why, and when the animals strike.
Jun 11, 2024 | 1,700 words, about 9 minutes
Features
Article list
Quieting the Global Growl
Underwater noise from ships has gotten louder, reshaping marine ecosystems and the lives of animals that depend on sounds to eat, mate, and navigate. Can ships ever pipe down?
Jun 4, 2024 | 5,800 words, about 29 minutes
Buying Baja
On a storied stretch of Mexico’s Baja peninsula, locals fight rich outsiders and rampant development that threaten to transform the coast and dry up aquifers.
May 28, 2024 | 5,200 words, about 26 minutes
Not Too Wet To Burn
Amid an uptick in wildfires, scientists search for lessons on how to save old-growth rainforests from a fiery future.
May 14, 2024 | 4,500 words, about 22 minutes
How Viking-Age Hunters Took Down the Biggest Animal on Earth
New research suggests that medieval Icelanders were scavenging and likely even hunting blue whales long before industrial whaling technology.
May 7, 2024 | 2,500 words, about 12 minutes
The Waning Reign of the Wetland Architect We Barely Know (Hint: Not a Beaver)
Little-appreciated, semiaquatic, and cute-as-hell, muskrats can survive almost anywhere. So where are they?
Apr 23, 2024 | 3,900 words, about 20 minutes
Exploring the Forests of the Sea
Under ocean waves, kelp functions much like a forest ecosystem on land. What are we doing to protect it?
Apr 16, 2024 | 7,100 words, about 35 minutes
Saving a Sea Monkey Sanctuary
As the Great Salt Lake in Utah shrinks, locals are working to preserve its critical brine shrimp fishery—along with the other entities that flourish in the lake’s strange, saline beauty.
Apr 2, 2024 | 4,500 words, about 22 minutes