Biomass burning takes many forms: wildfires, slash-and-burn agriculture, clearing forests and other vegetation, and even industrialized burning for energy production. Yet this burning—mostly manmade but also natural—takes a massive toll…
Is the great ape trade responsible for the current outbreak of Ebola? The vicious Ebola virus outbreak that has already killed more than 800 people this year, in addition to…
The world's worst Ebola outbreak was likely begun by a hunter shooting a fruit bat for their dinner or the market, according to the UN. The outbreak has killed over…
Study finds chimps at high risk for epidemics The year was 1854, and cholera outbreaks had rendered London terrified and British anesthesiologist Dr. John Snow fascinated. In what is thought…
Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Chris Golden Members of the MAHERY (Madagascar Health and Environmental Research) team that includes social surveyors, lemur researchers, tenrec researchers, veterinarians and…
Of mice and men: deforestation linked to human disease Deforestation is wiping out habitat for plants and animals around the world. It is linked to reductions in air and water…
The brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba clamitans) is listed as Critically Endangered in Argentina, where a small number persist in the northeastern portion of the country. Although habitat loss and…
Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Thomas Gillespie Abel Nzeheke of the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, preserves a lowland gorilla fecal sample for later analysis in the Republic…
A brood of barn owls. Photo by: chdwckvnstrsslhmn/Creative Commons 2.0. This year the Hanta virus has already caused 15 deaths in Chile, according to reports in The Santiago Times. It…
Malaria is a global scourge: despite centuries of efforts to combat the mosquito-borne disease, it still kills between 660,000 to 1.2 million people a year, according to World Health Organization…
A "systematic and comprehensive" approach is needed to understand the impact of human behavior on the world's public health, according to a new report. Written by the Heal (Health &…
An unusual species of mouth-brooding frog was likely driven to extinction by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), making an unusual example of 'extinction by infection', argue scientists writing in the…
Massive, but little-known, the giant armadillo caught on cameratrap. Photo by: Kevin Schafer/The Pantanal Giant Armadillo Project. The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) is not called a giant for nothing: it…
In 2004, the first-ever Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA) reviewed all 5,743 amphibian species known to science and concluded that 32% were threatened with extinction - a number far exceeding corresponding…
Hirwa Gorilla Group in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Photo © Julie Ghrist. It's unlikely conservation organizations can survive if they are unwilling to embrace change: as an endeavor, conservation requires…
Outdoor air pollution has been officially classified as carcinogenic by the cancer arm of the World Health Organization. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said air pollution from…
Climate change may increase the incidence of diarrheal disease in Botswana, according to a recent study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. "Diarrheal disease is a…
A frightening disease has been ravaging amphibians across the planet. At least 350 species have been infected, two hundred of which have suffered massive population reductions or extinctions, some even…
A fungal outbreak in the eastern and Midwestern United States is infecting some populations of wild snakes. Snake Fungal Disease (SFD), a fungal dermatitis consistently associated with the fungus Ophidiomyces…
Last week U.S. scientists with the biotech company, Sanaria, announced a possible breakthrough on an experimental malaria vaccine: an early trial led to a success rate of 80 percent for…
