Our Stories

Latest News

Come Again? -

"We may think of them as silent, but fish make many sounds that are rarely appreciated by the human ear. Clownfish chirp and pop by gnashing their teeth together. Oyster toadfish hum and blare like foghorns by quickly contracting muscles attached to their swim bladders. Croaking gourami make their signature noise by snapping the tendons of their pectoral fins. Altogether, more than eight hundred fish species are known to hoot, moan, grunt, groan, thump, bark, or otherwise vocalize." —From “When Fish Shout,” Emily Anthes’ New Yorker story about manmade noise driving sea life to speak up (and the costs of doing so)

A Future So Bright... -

Solar power is finally about to get its day in the sun: It is on track to be as or more affordable than conventional electricity by 2016. Although the solar industry is currently responsible for less than half of 1 percent of U.S. energy production, its star is rising fast, with the country generating 139,000 percent more solar power than it did just 10 years ago, and there's still plenty of room to grow. Solar energy has the potential to power the United States 100 times over. Mother Jones

The Maker King -

“One year, he lived in an attic and later in his office, sleeping on cardboard under an old Army blanket. He worked out a deal with the crew team to use its showers, raided undergrad parties for beer, and made lists of school functions where there might be leftover food. His office abutted an old cemetery that had maple trees; Droege convinced the caretaker to let him tap the trees, then boiled down the sap in pans in his lab, using Bunsen burners to make his own syrup. He became notorious for trapping squirrels outside his office window; one year he ate a hundred of them.” —From “The Incubator,” Andy Isaacson’s Audubon profile of biologist Sam Droege, an imaginative eccentric described as the "Johnny Appleseed of citizen science" for creating innovative public projects (many that aim to help preserve pollinators)

Let's Clear the Air, Shall We? -

Unhealthy levels of air pollution greeted global leaders in Beijing for the APEC summit this week. The United Nations' 2015 deadline for a comprehensive climate plan is looming large, and the United States hopes to use China's timely desolation of smog as a springboard for negotiating on carbon pollution. President Obama has said in the past: “As the two largest economies and emitters in the world, we have a special responsibility to lead.” He's got that right. Politico

Pub Plastic -

We know that plastic microparticles are filling up ocean gyres and the Great Lakes. That's bad. But now they’re in our beer, too? Pretty sure the old-school Bavarians would not approve. Popular Science

Dry Eye in the Sky -

Insurance adjustors usually have a pretty straightforward job: Something bad happens, they visit the scene, evaluate the damage, and pay a claim. But what about when you’re insuring herds of livestock spread out across a region as large, remote, and sparsely populated as northern Kenya, and a devastating drought strikes? Time to call up the satellites. Bracing for Impact