All organisms on Earth are traditionally placed into six kingdoms of life: Animalia (animals), Archaebacteria (bacteria often found in extreme environments...

From birds to flowers, the majority of the Earth’s species stem from a few evolutionary “explosions,” where new habitats or traits sparked rapid diversific...

Large herbivores—such as bison and elk—have continuously lived in the Yellowstone National Park region for at least 2,300 years, according to a new analysi...

Right now, as you’re probably finalizing your plans for the end-of-the-year holidays, there are some new developments in travel—and family get-togethers—th...

At the end of the year, many of our holiday celebrations revolve around food, such as a Thanksgiving feast or a Christmas dinner. This food-intensive seaso...

Plastics. It’s almost become an emotionally charged word. Today—no matter how you feel about their use—plastics provide us with both benefits and significa...

I like to think of biodiversity as a symphony orchestra, where each note, each instrument—every single part—is needed to make the whole. In the concert cal...

Daylight savings time—the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the longer daylight available during summer so that darkness falls at a later ...

I grew up in the Midwest. That means that as a child, as the joke goes, I had to decide on a Halloween costume that could incorporate my winter coat. That ...

If I asked you to name a “Halloween animal,” the first answer you’d probably give me is bat. Bats are associated with Halloween because of their nocturnal ...

The term “air pollution,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is the contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any biological, ch...

The word birdbrain became a common slang term for a stupid person in the early 20th century. And while it’s still sometimes used as an insult, it’s a misno...

Around the world, the variety of living things—defined as biodiversity—is declining, as increasing numbers of species face the risk of extinction. For exam...

Sea otters can be a powerful ally in confronting climate change, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. In places where they’re thriving, th...

Conservation is a complex and multifaceted undertaking, requiring the concerted efforts of communities, governments, individuals and organizations to safeg...

I believe that we are drawn to certain terrains. We know instinctively what landscape feels most like home when we want to wander, whether it’s mountains, ...

Animals and plants are remarkably resilient in the face of environmental changes. Their creative adaptations and strategies for surviving in ever-altering ...

Our impacts on the natural world can be very large—and often detrimental. This manifests in various ways, including in biodiversity loss, climate change, h...