Photo via the New Republic It's a widely held notion that politicians have long been in the pocket of Big Oil. And there's good reason for that perception: oil companies' huge campaign donations, vast lobbying power, and close ties to politicians have ensured that their taxes remain low , that hidden subsidies are around to provide extra funding, and that they receive preferential treatment in US energy policy. But there could be a new, ... View original post here: The Next Big Oil: Big Smart Grid?
So there really isn't anything that deep to this image. It's just a (more or less) life-sized blue whale eye. And on the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society site you can educate yourself/be mesmerized/ waste some time for a while staring at it while the entire life-sized animal scrolls across your browser window. Believe me, it's way cooler than you might think:... Read more from the original source: Ever See a Blue Whale Life-Sized on Your Computer? Now You Can
published May 16, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: Oregon Zoo With loads of wire mesh, steel sheets, and drainage piping, workers toil in the arid landscape of central Washington in an effort to give the world's smallest rabbit a fighting chance there -- sure, it's adorable work, but somebody's got to do it. Pygmy rabbits, an endangered species in the state, have had a lot to ...
Read more...published May 3, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: Andy M¢ / cc In the forests of Italy's Abruzzo National Park live one of the rarest creatures on Earth: the Marsican brown bear. For the last several decades the species has been on the brink of extinction -- with current estimates putting their population at less than 50 individuals, down from over 100 in the early 1980s. ...
Read more...published April 24, 2011 and has No Comments
Image: furlined / CC Sweden recently overturned a 45 year ban on wolf hunting as wolf populations have grown to more than 200 animals, and wolves impinge more frequently on areas occupied by humans. The clash between man and nature has claimed another victim, as two wolves converged on the path of a mother out walking with her c... ...
Read more...published April 6, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: Christian Sperka For a species of big cat as endangered and facing as many threats as the clouded leopard -- every little kitten counts. Recently, two female cats from Nashville Zoo's leopard conservation program each gave birth to a small litter of newborns, offering hope that the rare species can avoid extinction as their wild counterparts struggle to ...
Read more...published March 26, 2011 and has No Comments
An Iberian lynx. Photo: Programa de Conservación Ex-situ del Lince Ibérico / Wikimedia Commons . The woodlands and pastures of southern Spain once provided fertile hunting ground for the Iberian lynx , but habitat destruction, loss of prey, and trapping diminished the population of the reclusive feline dramatically, to just 100 animals a decade ago, making it the mo... ...
Read more...published March 24, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo credit: asibiri / Creative Commons For decades, the remote Kimberley region of Northern Australia has stood as a stronghold for dozens of rare native species of mammals, birds, lizards and other vertebrates. Now, these species are under serious threat from encroaching invasive species and a series of fires. The pressure is so severe, researchers believe, that as many ...
Read more...published March 20, 2011 and has No Comments
Image: Knut, at the Berlin Zoo by Udo Schröter , Creative Commons Knut the Polar Bear died suddenly and unexpectedly today (19 March 2011), aged only four years, at the Berlin Zoo. Knut was born 5 December 2006. He and his brother were rejected by their mother. His brother survived only a few days, but Knut lived thanks to ...
Read more...published March 18, 2011 and has No Comments
Image: Rachel Cernansky This doesn't seem a victory so much as common sense, but these days those aren't mutually exclusive. The Democratic Republic of Congo's Environment Minister Jose Endundo has rejected a bid by UK oil firm Soco International to search for oil in Virunga National Park , part of the region that the world's only remaining and critically ...
Read more...published March 6, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: fPat / CC Zoos are intended to be places where people can go to learn about unique and fascinating animals from all over the world -- but often they end up showing us that we're actually not so different after all. For over two decades, a female Lowland gorilla named Gorina and her partner Gyeoggi at a zoo ...
Read more...published February 14, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: PlanetSave California legislators just introduced a bill that would ban the sale and distribution of shark fins. Shark fins are most popularly used in Chinese soup that's considered a delicacy. But, as you're likely aware, shark fins are most often procured as the result of a particularly abhorrent fishing method -- sharks are caught, the fin is sliced ...
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This hand operated gramophone is as simple as it gets. Original post: Minimalist Gramophone Makes Playing Music Super Simple
Contrary to previously held notions of how whale songs are shared between neighboring populations, a surprising study finds that whales living the same ocean basin are singing different songs. Read the original post: Study: Humpback Whales Living in Same Ocean ...
