Archive for December 2021
Lunar Views and Beyond
Astronauts traveling within Earth’s largest artificial satellite can capture unique shots of the planet’s only natural satellite.
Read MoreSinkholes emerge in rural Kenya after series of floods, droughts
BARINGO COUNTY, Kenya — Across the arid landscape of Baringo county in western Kenya, in the geologically active Great Rift Valley, the December heat is scorching. Although the Indigenous pastoralist communities of the region are no strangers to harsh conditions, the current desiccating lack of rain has been particularly taxing. “In a few weeks, cattle […]
Read MoreBurnt pellets complicate impact of plastic spill off Sri Lanka, study finds
COLOMBO — There was little relief from the scorching sun on the beach, but the volunteers kept at their work, scouring the sand for small plastic pellets known as nurdles. The nurdles, the basic building blocks for all kinds of plastic items, have fouled a massive arc of coastline along Sri Lanka’s south and west […]
Read MoreAgricultural frontier advances in Nicaraguan biosphere reserve
The Río San Juan Biosphere Reserve in Nicaragua is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in Central America. It is also part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, which extends from Mexico to the Colombian Amazon. The reserve is located in the southeastern Nicaragua, specifically between the municipalities of El Castillo, San Juan de Nicaragua and […]
Read MoreNASA To Launch Four Earth Science Missions in 2022
The new missions will examine fundamental climate systems and processes, including extreme storms, surface water and oceans, and atmospheric dust.
Read MoreUpdate: NASA Plans Coverage of Webb Space Telescope Deployments
Over about the next two weeks, NASA will provide broadcast coverage, media briefings, and other updates on major deployment milestones for the James Webb Space Telescope, the world’s largest and most powerful space science telescope.
Read MoreMongabay’s Top 10 Indigenous News Stories of 2021
To date, 2021 has proved to be one of the most consequential years for Indigenous rights and participation in global climate and conservation efforts. As biodiversity loss mounted and urgency was added to mitigating climate change, Indigenous environmental stewardship was put centre-stage, conservation efforts continued to displace communities, and extractive industries resumed operations on ancestral […]
Read MoreMongabay’s 10 most popular posts of 2021
Mongabay will end up publishing about 5,000 posts in 2021, with original content in English, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Portuguese and Spanish, as well as translations across Chinese, German, Italian and Japanese. Mongabay’s on-site traffic amounted to 96 million pageviews, down from 142 million in 2020, but readers spent more time with Mongabay stories than ever […]
Read MoreHow can illegal timber trade in the Greater Mekong be stopped?
Over the past decade, the European Union entered into collaborative agreements with tropical timber-producing countries to fight forest crime and verify the legality of wood imported into the EU. Within the Greater Mekong, Vietnam was the first (and to date, only) country to sign such a voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) with the EU, back in […]
Read MoreNew shrews just dropped: Sulawesi yields up 14 freshly described species
JAKARTA — Scientists have described 14 species of shrews new to science from the Indonesian biodiversity haven of Sulawesi Island. The species-level description of the shrews from the genus Crocidura is the largest number of new mammals described in a scientific paper since 1931, according to the researchers from Indonesia, the U.S. and Australia, in […]
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