Tag Nature

These stories celebrate the world’s incredible natural wonders. From breathtaking landscapes to the tiniest creatures on Earth, the natural world has the power to remind us it’s still an amazing world.

16 min read

Your Local Bees Need a Place to Stay: Shifting Spotlight to Native Bees Near You

The honey bee came to America with European colonialists, and has stolen the show in bee conservation. 4,000 other bee species have been calling America home for far longer, and are vital to the health of the American biosphere. Our local bees need our help too—and here’s how you can be their eco-hero!

5 min read

Image: A woman wearing a snorkel treading in the water at sunset, much like the VR do when spotting sharks for surfers in Réunion.

Shark Spotters: The Safety Team Working the World’s Best Waves

Deep in the Indian Ocean sits the island of Réunion, a French department that finds itself along the “shark highway” and is notorious for its encounters, yet famous for its waves straight out of a surfer’s dream. So, how can surfers and sharks peacefully coexist? As always, there’s a solution to the problem. Introducing: Réunion Island’s shark spotters!

18 min read/watch

Image: Glowing feathers of a Nicobar Pigeon at Birdworld in Kuranda, Australia displaying their iridescence.

Feathers, Puddles, and Bugs: The Science Behind Iridescence in Nature

If you’ve ever scratched your head wondering why the shimmering plumage of a peacock is so mesmerizing, or became hypnotized by the colors in a dragonflies wings and wished you knew why, you’re in luck! Read on as we discover the mystifying physics behind one of nature’s most beautiful visual tricks.

10 min read

Image: Five Ocean Sole artisans standing with a large rhino, made entirely of recycled flip flops.

Kenyan Nonprofit Turns Flip Flops into Beautiful Works of Art, Cleaning Beaches and Empowering Communities

In sculptures made of flip flops that you have to see to believe featuring turtles, elephants, zebras, life-size giraffes, and many, many more, Kenyan nonprofit Ocean Sole’s artistic ingenuity solves more than one problem. Turning trash into treasure, this organization cleans Kenyan beaches, provides jobs for local artisans, and raises awareness for our flip flop problem, all at the same time. Ready to feast your eyes on this incredible art?

5 min read

Image: Normal cells of human connective tissue in culture at a magnification of 500x.

Unveiling Hidden Beauty: 17 Microscopic Wonders You Need to See Today

Join us on a short journey to a fascinating yet underappreciated world that exists all around us: the microscopic world. Tiny as it may be, this shockingly awe-inspiring world occupies more of Earth than we ever will.

5 min read

Image: One of the organization's ferrets poking its head out of a pipe.

Ferrets: History’s Most Helpful Cable Guys

You may think of them as a stinky pet, but ferrets are truly talented critters! Read on to see what sets them apart from other mammals, and how they have been helping us humans out of tight spots for over 2000 years!

55 min listen

Your Backyard at Night: What the Critters Can Teach Us with Topher White (Episode #135)

This chat with conservation innovator Topher White will give you a feeling of celebration and wonder. In 2013, he created the ingenious Rainforest Connection, a nonprofit which is helping to preserve biodiversity in 34 countries and counting. And now, he is launching another pioneering technology! But this time, it’s one we can all bring to our own backyards, neighborhoods, and even on vacation. All of that, in the service of making a personal connection with the natural world around us, in fascinating and delightful ways.

61 min listen

APOPO’s Highly Trained Rats Could Save Your Life with Dr. Cindy Fast (Episode #131)

Dr. Cindy Fast tells us about the fascinating and groundbreaking work of an organization in Africa that has realized the potential in a common local animal, and turned it from “pest” to “hero.” Remarkable gains in landmine clearing, stopping the spread of tuberculosis, and even search and rescue techniques are being made… all from the discovery of a novel partnership: one between humans and… African giant pouched rats! Listen in to learn about the fantastic work of nonprofit, APOPO.

Image: Three farming machines detasseling corn in Illinois. These machines may soon be operated by artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing Farming. Here’s How

In the next 30 years, we will have to drastically change the way we feed the world. Our food future may rely on combining the wisdom of generations of farmers with the precision and power of artificial intelligence. Here’s what that future looks like!

Image: Two boats headed up a river in the Amazon rainforest

Can Technology Help the Rainforests?

The Amazon Rainforest keeps our air clean and breathable, is largely responsible for our chocolate, vanilla, and coffee, and is home to 10% of the world's species, including some of the most interesting and unique creatures on Earth. And yet, illegal loggers and deforestation threaten this important ecosystem. But now, researchers from Imazon have found a way to help politicians and activists take proactive steps against illegal roads and prevent deforestation before it happens.

5 min read

How This Hero Conservation Dog Fought to Save the World’s Only Ground-Nesting Alpine Parrot

The mountains of New Zealand are home to a fascinating community of inquisitive, mischievous parrots who make their homes not in the trees but on the ground. They are called kea, and over the last 200 years their populations have been decimated, placing them on the endangered species list. With unnatural foes attacking their nests, an unexpected hero has come to their rescue. He doesn’t wear a cape but rather a collar, and with his sidekick, Corey Mosen, Ajax the border collie-cross has devoted his life to keeping kea safe.

59 min listen

How 82 Million Minutes of Rainforest Audio Could Save Your Life with Bourhan Yassin (Episode #124)

It is possible to save all the remaining rainforests in the world when we connect three things: technology, imagination, and our love for the world. Our guest today, Bourhan Yassin, is CEO of a nonprofit—the Rainforest Connection (RFCx)—that has been working towards doing exactly that since 2014. Their founder discovered that we could use simple cell phone technology to detect and stop illegal logging, and in less than a decade, the RFCx has expanded into using sound and machine learning to protect biodiversity in all kinds of places.

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