Author Archive
Why Some Wild Animals Are Becoming Nicer
Nature is supposed to be red in tooth and claw, and domestication an artificial process for making animals gentle. But it appears that some corners of the animal kingdom are becoming kinder, gentler places. Certain creatures may be domesticating themselves.
Audio: 165-Million-Year-Old Cricket Song Comes Back to Life
A song last heard 165 million years ago has been played again, making it the world’s oldest known piece of music.
Sugar May Be Bad, But Is the Alternative Worse?
Given the recent controversy over sugar, one might look to artificial sweeteners for an easy alternative to thorny scientific and ethical questions. But to anyone seeking pastel-packaged reassurance that regulators won’t ever need to pry donuts from their cold, dead and pudgy fingers, science offers only more uncertainty.
8 Wild Proposals to Relocate Endangered Species
Moving big animals to places they don’t already live is at once appealing and disturbing, a sort of adolescent environmental fantasy come to life: African lions in Nebraska! Komodo dragons in Australia! But at the beginning of the 21st century, moving species around is a controversial but legitimate option.