During his 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden had a slogan: “No more drilling on federal lands, period.” This week, he reneged on that promise, green-lighting a ConocoPhillips project to clear-cut vegetation, build roads, and install more than 200 oil wells in the Western Arctic. So, how did we get here? For many voters, Biden felt [...]

For the past 30 years, a herd of hippos first introduced by drug lord Pablo Escobar has been terrorizing visitors to the Colombia backcountry. Now, after years of trying to catch and castrate the hippos, the Colombian government is trying a new solution. Escobar’s hippos first arrived in the 1980s, imported as part of a [...]

Earlier this month Tom Cruise received some unexpected news. PolarX, the production company he’s been working with to film his latest Mission Impossible movie, had sought permission to land helicopters in Svalbard, a Norwegian territory about 600 miles from the North Pole. Svalbard’s governor told them, quite frankly, that this was a bad idea.  For [...]

Flamingos might all the look the same to us, but apparently the birds differ widely in personality—and have very strong preferences as to who they’ll hang out with. According to new research published in early March, flamingos form lasting friendships with both same-sex bird friends and romantic partners. And they’re very picky. In fact, scientists [...]

This week, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources clued us in to a dream job we didn’t realize exists: professional baby-bear snuggler. And guess what? They’re hiring. That’s not the whole job (unfortunately), but cuddling cubs is actually an important part of the research process when crews do check-ups on surrogate mama bears.  Here’s the [...]

In New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, you’re probably more likely to get attacked by a cow than a bear. Over the past few decades, several hikers have reported getting charged by aggressive feral cattle. Now, the U.S. Forest Service is finally going to do something about it. (Spoiler alert: it involves helicopter-borne snipers.) The cows [...]

Joe Redfern has spent the last few weeks caring for about 100,000 tiny lobsters. Each crustacean is about the size of a thumbnail and has its own little plastic corral. That’s not to give them their privacy, though; it’s to keep all the toddling youngsters from eating each other.  Preventing a little innocent cannibalism is [...]

Colorado may be the land of alpine lakes, Coors Light, and more Toyota Tacomas than you can shake a hiking pole at, but that’s not all. It’s also home to more than 15 mountain ranges, where 58 peaks soar above 14,000 feet, earning them a cult following and the nickname of “Fourteeners.” For decades, these [...]

Thanks to a father-and-son team—and some really strong adhesives—scientists may soon be able to study polar bears in a whole new way.  For years, biologists weren’t able to effectively track adult male polar bears in the wild. That means a huge chunk of our understanding of how the bears move—and what we need to do [...]

The good news: Sir David Attenborough, the natural history broadcasting legend, is set to unveil his latest series, “Wild Isles,” on BBC this Sunday, March 12. The bad news: The series is rumored to be his last-ever on-location role. If you don’t know Attenborough by name, you’re probably familiar with his voice. The narrator of [...]