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Down to Earth

Down to Earth

The biodiversity crisis, explained

Introducing Down to Earth, our new project on the biodiversity crisis

By Eliza Barclay and Brian Anderson Apr 12, 2021, 7:00am EDT

Why a reporting initiative on the science, politics, and economics of an ecological catastrophe is so badly needed.

Poaching is altering the genetics of wild animals

By Benji Jones@BenjiSJones Oct 21, 2021, 4:20pm EDT

Elephants and other species are quickly adapting to human threats. Will that help them survive?

The animals that may exist in a million years, imagined by biologists

By Mandy Nguyen Oct 20, 2021, 11:40am EDT

Fully aquatic whale-rats. Praying mantises the size of dogs. Scientists imagine the future evolution of life on Earth.

Fake rhino horns were supposed to foil poachers. What went wrong?

By Benji Jones@BenjiSJones Oct 18, 2021, 8:30am EDT

Why buzzy tech often fails to protect wildlife.

The controversial plan to bring jaguars back to the US

By Jason Plautz October 12

Climate scientists should pay more attention to fish poop. Really.

By Benji Jones October 8

Why the Huntington Beach oil spill is so harmful to wildlife

By Benji Jones October 6

What “extinction” really means — and what it leaves out

By Benji Jones September 30

See where birds are migrating in real time, in one map

By Benji Jones September 28

What happens when billionaires jump on the biodiversity bandwagon

By Benji Jones September 23

The surprising downsides to planting trillions of trees

By Benji Jones September 22

Wildfires in Australia caused an explosion of sea life thousands of miles away

By Benji Jones September 15

Grass is good. Lawns are terrible.

By Benji Jones September 10

Why are these octopuses hurling shells at each other?

By Benji Jones September 5

The Amazon rainforest’s most dogged defenders are in peril

By Salomé Gómez-Upegui September 1

Fires in the Amazon are out of control. Again.

By Benji Jones August 27

The West’s megadrought is so bad, authorities are airlifting water for animals

By Benji Jones August 20

Solar farms are often bad for biodiversity — but they don’t have to be

By Katherine Harmon Courage August 18

Pesticides can amplify each other. Bees have become the victims.

By Benji Jones August 17

The case against the concept of biodiversity

By Clare Fieseler August 5

Why so many dead fish are washing up on Florida’s beaches

By Benji Jones August 4

Beetles, drought, and fires are a ticking time bomb in the West

By Benji Jones July 29

Jane Goodall reveals what studying chimpanzees teaches us about human nature

By Sigal Samuel July 23

An Indigenous firefighter explains how to better manage wildfires

By Benji Jones July 22

Here’s where dangerous ticks are spreading across the US — and what to do about them

By Benji Jones July 15

We must burn the West to save it

By Umair Irfan July 13

Down to Earth

Undersea volcanoes are home to more life than we know

Yet the threats these castles of biodiversity face are mounting.

By Robin George Andrews July 12

Seashells changed the world. Now they’re teaching us about the future of the oceans.

By Benji Jones July 10

Animals are shrinking. Blame climate change.

By Benji Jones July 6

Animals can navigate by starlight. Here’s how we know.

By Brian Resnick June 28

A European butterfly bonanza starts with caterpillars 4,000 miles away

By Benji Jones June 25

How Indigenous memories can help save species from extinction

By Karen Pinchin June 24

Salamanders have a secret to surviving climate change

By Benji Jones June 17

What’s with these invasive “crazy” worms and why can’t we get rid of them?

By Katherine Harmon Courage June 16

Indigenous people are the world’s biggest conservationists, but they rarely get credit for it

By Benji Jones June 11

Where could the next coronavirus jump to humans? New research offers clues.

By Benji Jones May 31

These frogs need poison to survive. Humans are messing with their supply.

By Benji Jones May 26

These dogs, birds, and squirrels are stuffing their faces with Brood X cicadas

By Benji Jones May 21

Why the US won’t join the single most important treaty to protect nature

By Benji Jones May 20

What the cicadas will leave behind

By Benji Jones May 18

Down to Earth

The right-wing effort to derail Biden’s conservation plan

A small but vocal opposition could obstruct an initiative to conserve 30 percent of US land by 2030.

By Benji Jones May 13

The Biden administration has a game-changing approach to nature conservation

By Benji Jones May 7

Deforestation in Brazil is out of control. Bolsonaro is asking for billions to stop it.

By Benji Jones May 1

Wildlife is in peril, but that doesn’t mean conservation has failed

By Benji Jones April 22

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