It may be hard to imagine, but once upon a time, dinosaurs didn’t dominate their world. When they first originated, they were just small, two-legged carnivores overshadowed by a diverse array of other reptiles. How did they come to rule? My colleagues and I recently studied the fossilized bones of the earliest known dinosaurs and […]
CAMEMBERT, France — On a tiny farm tucked into the lush, green hillside of Normandy, Aude Sementzeff heats raw milk from cows up the hill until it curdles, then scoops it into molds to make a round, pearly white Camembert cheese. For eight years, Sementzeff has been making the earthy, soft cheese in small batches […]
Concord Green Fire Chief Ralph Stegbauer and Captain Jeffrey Skaggs were doing their best to save money at their volunteer fire department in Fayette County. So they borrowed an extended lift from a local farmer on Nov. 25 to install a windsock on a 70 feet tall radio tower so medical helicopters could land in […]
When Napoleon first encountered a Camembert cheese, legend has it, he was so delighted he kissed the waitress who plonked it in front of him. Setting aside the inappropriateness of this gesture, the French emperor clearly recognized a winner. Produced in France’s northwestern region of Normandy in various forms since at least the 18th century, […]
If you want a snappy death, one expert’s advice is to leap into a river near the Australian city of Darwin — within minutes, you’ll be in the jaws of one of the hundreds of crocodiles that stalk its murky waters. That’s the promise of Grahame Webb, whose conservation efforts are credited with helping wrestle […]
Feb. 12 (UPI) — Nearly half of the more than 1,100 migratory species that signatories to a United Nations treaty are pledged to protect are in decline and one in five may become extinct, the U.N. Environment Program said Monday. The first State of the World’s Migratory Species report blames hunting, fishing and farming and […]
A world first in rhinoceros reproductive health could save northern white rhinos from extinction, scientists said Wednesday. The team at the BioRescue project successfully impregnated a southern white rhino via in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to a press release, creating a possible path for restoring the northern white rhino species. Northern white rhinos are critically endangered and the only two remaining rhinos, Najin and Fatu, are infertile […]
Were dinosaurs already on their way out when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, ending the Cretaceous, the geologic period that started about 145 million years ago? It’s a question that has vexed paleontologists like us for more than 40 years. In the late 1970s, debate began about whether dinosaurs were at their […]
A concerning report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services from 2019 said that one million plant and animal species worldwide are threatened with extinction. The organization said the decline of nature is happening at a rate “unprecedented in human history,” with invasive species, global heating, and pollution all said to be […]
Climate activists have blocked part of a major ring road around Amsterdam city centre, near the former headquarters of ING bank to protest against its financing of fossil fuels. Amsterdam Municipality said traffic authorities had closed part of the road and diverted traffic “to prevent a life-threatening situation”. Hundreds of activists walked on to the […]
Thousands of species of freshwater fish are at risk of extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said in a Monday report released at the United Nations climate conference in Dubai. The organization assessed just under 15,000 species and found 25% face possible extinction. At least 17% of the threatened species are impacted by […]