‘Return’ of the dire wolf is an impressive feat of genetic engineering, not a reversal of extinction: Colossal Dallas-based biotech company Colossal has announced the birth of three pups bearing the DNA signatures of dire wolves, an iconic predator last seen roaming North America over 10,000 years ago. With their names Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, …
Extinction de masse des grands mammifères : un nouvel outil pour faire face: Nous sommes peut-être en train d’être les témoins de la sixième extinction de masse d’animaux à un rythme alarmant dans le monde entier. Elle se caractérise par la disparition rapide d’espèces en raison d’activités humaines telles que la destruction des habitats, la …
La découverte d’un dinosaure au Maroc donne des indices sur les raisons de son extinction: Il y a 66 millions d’années, les derniers dinosaures ont disparu de la Terre. Nous essayons toujours d’en comprendre les raisons. De nouveaux fossiles d’abelisaures – des parents éloignés des tyrannosaures – provenant d’Afrique du Nord suggèrent que les dinosaures …
The wildfires that led to mass extinction: a warning from California’s Ice Age history – podcast: Ringo Chiu via Shutterstock In recent years, Californians have had to deal with some deadly and destructive wildfires. But in fact, this part of the western United States has been shaped by fire for millennia. In this episode of …
One in six UK species threatened with extinction – here’s what we could lose (plus how to save them): Water voles are endangered mammals in the British Isles. Ben Andrew/RSPB The UK is considered one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. This is not surprising given its history of early industrialisation and agricultural …
I’ve spent 50 years studying one seabird colony fight its way back from near extinction – now it faces new threats: A guillemot nesting on a cliff ledge on Skomer Island, south Wales. Andrew Astbury/Shutterstock Over the past few decades, Skomer Island off the south coast of Wales has witnessed a remarkable resurgence in its …
AI might eventually be an extinction threat, but it poses more pressing risks: AI has major potential in medical diagnostics. Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock Since the AI chatbot ChatGPT was released in 2020, we’ve been hearing about the threat posed by artificial intelligence. A statement signed by academic experts and tech industry figures even branded AI …
Cormac McCarthy: a powerful writer who beautifully wrote about apocalypse and extinction: Endings, extinctions, last things preoccupied Cormac McCarthy from the start to the recent close of his 60-year career as a writer of fiction and, occasionally, drama for stage or screen. His first novel, The Orchard Keeper (1965), ends with the word “dust”. His …
If we’re going to label AI an ‘extinction risk’, we need to clarify how it could happen: This is not the first time that AI has been described as an existential threat. Nouskrabs/Shutterstock This week a group of well-known and reputable AI researchers signed a statement consisting of 22 words: Mitigating the risk of extinction …
Extinction Rebellion gave it ‘the Big One’ with a four-day peaceful protest – now what?: The banners have been packed away, the face paint washed off and the Instagram accounts updated. The latest four-day demonstration by environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) – dubbed “the Big One” as it aimed to be the largest climate …
Bahamas songbird is under threat of extinction — but preserving old pine forests will help save it: The Bahama warbler, a small songbird found exclusively on Grand Bahama and Abaco, two islands in the north-east Bahama archipelago only “became” a species in 2010. But due to its limited range and increasingly fragmented habitat, the warbler …
Extinction Rebellion says ‘we quit’ – why radical eco-activism has a short shelf life: Margarita Young / shutterstock The protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) has released a statement with the clickbait headline “We Quit”. Dashing the hopes of climate denialists everywhere, the group is not shutting up shop (yet), it is merely changing tactics. XR …
A fossil baby helped scientists explain how mammals thrived after the dinosaur extinction – new research: An artist's impression of the _Pantolambda bathmodon_ H Sharpe, Author provided Sixty-two million years ago, a mother gave birth to a baby. Overcoming the shock of birth in a matter of minutes, the baby began to explore the world …
Thousands more species at risk of extinction than currently recorded, suggests new study: Amphibian species are particularly at risk. elementals / shutterstock New research suggests the extinction crisis may be even worse than we thought. More than half of species that have so far evaded any official conservation assessment are threatened with extinction, according to …
South Africa’s sandfish are on the brink of extinction: how farmers are helping rescue them: Sandfish migrate to the Biedouw River to spawn. They must swim through fences and over rocks, which takes a toll on them. Jeremy Shelton Sandfish are migratory freshwater fish found only in South Africa that can grow to over half …
In Jamaica, native trees are being driven further up mountains towards extinction: eric laudonien / shutterstock The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are frequently covered in a dense blanket of cloud, but when it lifts the first thing you notice is the cloak of forest extending up their steep slopes to the top of the highest …
Extinction Rebellion scientists: why we glued ourselves to a government department: One recent Wednesday, while most scientists around the world were carrying out their research, we stepped away from our day jobs to engage in a more direct form of communication. Along with more than 20 others from Scientists for Extinction Rebellion and assisted in …
Reptiles: why one in five species face extinction: A yacare caiman (_Caiman yacare_) in the Pantanal wetlands of Bolivia. Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock Reptiles are cold-blooded and scaly animals, the majority of which are predators. They include some of the most deadly and venomous creatures on Earth, including the spitting cobra and saltwater crocodile. Many of these …