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The resulting piles of plastic after beach clean-up volunteers sifted microplastics from water and sand in Kailua Bay, a few miles south Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu. Image courtesy of: Ken G Kosada/Lethal Lens Photography.

Another threat to reefs: Microplastic chemicals may harm coral reproduction

Kari Goodbar 5 Dec 2025
A breaching northern bottlenose soars out of the water. Image by Sanna Isojunno via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

A rare bright spot for whales: Decades of conservation pay off for endangered population in Canada

Stella Mayerhoff 5 Dec 2025
Monarch butterfly resting on a plant. Photo by José López-García

Saving critical winter habitat for monarch butterflies may depend on buy-in from their human neighbors

Claudia Steiner 3 Dec 2025
Beach wheelchairs provided by Point Reyes National Seashore Association, a group that manages the northern part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California, United States. Image credit: PRNA / Zoe Duerksen-Salm

Unequal access to nature: Few outdoor spaces in Europe and the U.S. accommodate sensory, mental disabilities

Albert Chern 3 Dec 2025
An Asian dhole (Cuon alpinus) in a grassy field. Human impact hot spots for Canidae, like dhole, include Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, and South America. Image credit: Kalyan Varma / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Predators in peril: Protected areas cover just a fraction of global carnivore ranges

Alonso Daboub 3 Dec 2025
Sorting of plastic bottles collected in Costa Rica for analysis. Photo by Juan Manuel Muñoz-Araya.

Lost at sea, found in Latin America: the journeys of discarded plastic bottles

Olivia Maule 2 Dec 2025
The California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides). Photo by Anik Grearson.

Octopuses use their arms to sense and respond to microbiomes on the seafloor

Pepper St. Clair 1 Dec 2025
Rainforest in northern Borneo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Endangered knowledge and endangered plants: Threats to Indigenous medicinal traditions in Borneo

Cassidy Beach 1 Dec 2025
Pinyon pines cut into firewood on the Diné College forest plot. Photo credit: Peter Z. Fulé.

Students and scientists collaborate to maintain Navajo Nation forests

Mark DeGraff 6 Dec 2024
Weddell seals live in Antarctica. They communicate via chirps and trills. Image credit: ELG21 from Pixabay

Colliding icebergs and chirping seals: Polar ocean sounds are reimagined in art-science collaboration

Jasmin Galvan 6 Dec 2024
Tree cover in Kauai. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Trees live out their lives in surprising ways, massive new study finds

Collin Blinder 5 Dec 2024
The Missouri River floods Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base in March 2019. Photo credit: Rachelle Blake on Wikimedia Commons

Eastern U.S. floods could persist longer toward the end of the century

Jenna Ahart 4 Dec 2024
Moose (Alces alces) populations in Ontario, Canada, have declined by 20 percent in the last two decades. Photo credit: Richard Lee on Unsplash

Why are Canadian moose declining? Interviews with Indigenous communities offer new clues

Carly Kay 4 Dec 2024
Killer whales swim in the icy Arctic waters that are newly open to them. Photo credit: Maha Ghazal

Killer whales have found new homes in the Arctic Ocean, potentially reshaping marine ecology

Caroline Hemphill 3 Dec 2024
Green-winged teals (Anas carolinensis) take flight over waters safeguarded in Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming. Overall, the state has up to 260,000 hectares (640,000 acres) of at-risk wetlands. Photo credit: Tom Koerner/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision threatens the country’s inland wetlands with new development, study says

Anna Fitzgerald Guth 2 Dec 2024
Antarctic krill swim in swarms of billions. Credit: Aker BioMarine, Pew

Antarctic krill store massive amounts of carbon in the deep ocean, researchers find

Farah Aziz Annesha 29 Nov 2024
Citizen scientist photographing a Northern Queen of Sheba Orchid in Lesueur National Park, Western Australia. Photo credit: Thomas Mesaglio

Citizen scientists can boost IUCN species assessments, but need better guidance from ecologists

Mahima Samraik 26 Nov 2024
Food can pick up chemicals from to-go containers and everything else they contact on their way to your table. Credit: Taklamacuwv Lamia on Wikimedia Commons

Thousands of chemicals from food packaging found in humans, a major study reveals

Rita Aksenfeld 25 Nov 2024
The first asynchronous roboflapper, built at the size of an actual insect. Photo: Courtesy of Nick Gravish.

Robotic insect reveals evolutionary secrets of the fastest flapping fliers

Eli Ramos 5 Dec 2023
Getting plant species on the Red List often leads to greater habitat protections and conservation funding. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Nearly half of the world’s flowering plants face the threat of extinction, study says

Joseph Howlett 4 Dec 2023
Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine (Coendou roosmalenorum) Photo credit: M.G.M. van Roosmalen

Scientists unearth secrets of the world’s smallest porcupine species

Andrea Tamayo 30 Nov 2023
Two Dutch flycatchers nestle in the palm of a researcher’s hands. Photo credit: Koosje Lamers.

Ecologists help migratory birds adapt to climate change

Gillian Dohrn 30 Nov 2023
An African wedgefish (Rhynchobatus luebberti) landed by artisanal fishermen and sold in Songolo (Critically Endangered, IUCN Red List). Credit: Godefroy De Bruyne

Congo’s waters are hotspot for endangered sharks & rays, reveals data from artisanal fishers

Molly Herring 28 Nov 2023
Firefighter fighting a battle against a veld-fire at Ashton Bay, Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa in March 2017. Photo credit: Steven Terblanch

Do tree-planting projects on grasslands increase fire risk?

Alix Soliman 28 Nov 2023
Llamas moving through the harsh post-glacial landscape below the Uruashraju glacier. Photo credit: Anaïs Zimmer

Llama herding helps community in Peru recover from a melting glacier

Sierra Bouchér 27 Nov 2023
North Atlantic orcas are threatened by persistent organic pollutants that build up in their favorite prey, marine mammals. Photo by Nitesh Jain / Unsplash

North Atlantic orcas reveal the troubling persistence of toxic ocean pollutants

Kristel Tjandra 27 Nov 2023
A house sparrow (Passer domesticus) perched on a black metal fence in the city. Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash.

Discriminatory U.S. housing policies still affect bird sightings 90 years later

Chiara Villanueva 27 Nov 2023
Bornean orangutans are threatened by habitat loss and individual killings. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Killings of Bornean orangutans could lead to their extinction

Madeline Reinsel 24 Nov 2023
Blue-winged mountain tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus). Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Bright, unique colors can put tropical songbirds at greater risk

Anna Marie Yanny 15 Dec 2022
Wildfires spark up throughout the summer and early fall in the western United States. (Image by David Mark from Pixabay)

Wildfires are climbing up the snowiest mountains of the western U.S.

Isabel Swafford 14 Dec 2022
A Djouroutou chimpanzee cracks open a panda nut on a wooden anvil. Photo credit: Liran Samuni, Taï Chimpanzee Project

Chimpanzee nut cracking leaves telltale marks on stones, providing clues to human evolution

Kate Hull 13 Dec 2022
Red ants forming chains.

How many ants live on Earth? At least 20 quadrillion, scientists say

Shannon Banks 12 Dec 2022

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