Snow Drought in the West Reaches Record Levels

No winter in the West yet. Will it ever arrive? My latest. Free to read. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/s...

Nature’s Super Feather

Think you know what a bird feather is? Think again. My latest in the New York Times/Science Times. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/s...

Japan to Send Troops to Help Stop Bear Attacks

Japan to Send Troops to Help Stop Bear Attacks www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/w...

As Jaguars Recover, Will the Border Wall Block Their U.S. Return? Decades of conservation efforts in Central and South America are starting to pay off, with increased protections for jaguars and the corridors that connect them. But the construction of the border wal...

Jaguars roam from Arizona to Argentina and their population is in decline. There is only one jaguar in Arizona and a new border will may cut them off from the rest of the contiguous population. My latest.
e360.yale.edu/features/jag...

A Tiny Seabird Faces Growing Threats in the Forest

A quirky little seabird that lives in the crowns of redwood trees in in trouble. My latest in today's Science Times. Gift article free to read. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/s...

One of the funnest story assignments I have had in a while. Aero-ecology, aka the ecology of the sky, is science about a forgotten and mysterious ecosystem above us. It is teeming with life. My latest in the September issue of Smithsonian.
www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...

Shrinking Cod: How Humans Are Impacting the Evolution of Species Biologists once thought that humans did little to affect the course of evolution in the short term. But a recent study of cod in the Baltic Sea reveals how overfishing and selective harvest of the lar...

Humans are driving rapid evolution in more ways than one. Fishing Induced Evolution may be the most rapid of all. My latest in Yale's E360.
e360.yale.edu/features/hum...

A Zoo in Denmark Wants to Feed Your Pets to Its Predators

You can read this article for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/s...

Scientists say they’ve solved the mystery of starfish that turn to goo Sea star wasting disease has killed billions of starfish and destroyed kelp ecosystems. In a study published Monday, researchers say they found the culprit.

Mystery solved?
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

The Pacific Northwest Lumber Industry Hopes for a Trump Bump The president is calling for increased logging in national forests and raising trade protections against Canadian exports.

Sawmills have been closing across the Pacific Northwest over the past 30 years. The region's lumber industry is hoping for a Trump bump.

Researchers quietly planned a test to dim sunlight. They wanted to ‘avoid scaring’ the public. Hundreds of documents show how researchers failed to notify officials in California about a test of technology to block the sun’s rays — while they planned a much huger sequel.

Fascinating story on secret a geoengineering project off the coast of California.
www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Men Who Felled Sycamore Gap Tree Are Given Prison Sentences in U.K.

A well deserved prison sentence.
Gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/w...

Increasingly Acidic Seas Threaten Oyster Farming

The chemistry of the oceans is rapidly becoming more acidic and it's affecting everything from coral reefs to crabs and oysters. My latest, from tomorrow's New York Times.
(This is a gift article and you can read it for free without a subscription.) www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/s...

Increasingly Acidic Seas Threaten Oyster Farming

The chemistry of the oceans is rapidly become more acidic and its affecting everything from oysters to crabs to coral, which all use minerals to build their shells. My latest, from tomorrow's New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/s...

Dunning-Kruger Effect The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them fro...

That's the Dunning Kruger effect. www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/du...

Yellowstone Visitors Watch Bison Die In 160-Degree Grand Prismatic Spring Dozens of Yellowstone visitors were shocked to witness the death of a bison as it stepped into the water at the shallow edge of Grand Prismatic Spring on…

Yikes!
cowboystatedaily.com/2025/06/23/y...

Road Hazard: Evidence Mounts on Toxic Pollution from Tires Researchers are only beginning to uncover the toxic cocktail of chemicals, microplastics, and heavy metals hidden in car and truck tires. But experts say these tire emissions are a significant source ...

Here's another toxic rubber story I wrote. @gdrosser.bsky.social
e360.yale.edu/features/tir...

Is Fake Grass Safe? A Manufacturer Sues to Stop a Discussion.

Posting the gift version of this article...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/c...

Is Fake Grass Safe? A Manufacturer Sues to Stop a Discussion.

There are serious questions about this material that shouldn't be swept under the rug.
Is Fake Grass Safe? A Manufacturer Sues to Stop a Discussion. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/c...

Out of the Wild: How A.I. Is Transforming Conservation Science Artificial intelligence is being called a game changer for enabling scientists and conservationists to process vast troves of data collected remotely. But some warn its use could keep biologists from ...

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly and dramatically changing conservation for good and bad. My latest. e360.yale.edu/features/art...

A Toxic Pit Could Be a Gold Mine for Rare-Earth Elements

There's rare earths in them there toxic pits. My latest in today's New York Times. It's a gift article and you can read it for free. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/s...

2 Men Found Guilty of Felling Britain’s Sycamore Gap Tree

Don't underestimate people's love for trees.
You can read this article free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/w...

With the Great Mussel Die-Off, Scientists Scramble for Answers One of the most endangered animals in the world, freshwater mussels are threatened by pollution, climate change, habitat loss, and invasive species. But in the epicenter of their diversity — the South...

ICYMI: the extreme biodiversity crisis almost no one knows about. e360.yale.edu/features/fre...

A Coastal New England Town’s ‘Ornery’ Vandal: A Woodpecker More than 20 vehicles in a town on Cape Ann, Mass., have been damaged by a woodpecker in mating season. “You still see him out here,” one resident said. “Peck, peck, peck, peck.”

A Coastal New England Town’s ‘Ornery’ Vandal: A Woodpecker www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/u...

The ‘owl man’ is busy at Boston Logan airport Boston’s airport has the highest known concentration of snowy owls in New England. Raptor researcher Norman Smith has removed more than 900 of the Arctic birds.

www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2025/...

I am visiting the Stratosphere Giant, a redwood tree that was at one time the tales tree in the world. It has since been surpassed. But it sure is glorious.

Scientists Revive the Dire Wolf, or Something Close (Gift Article) Dire wolves, made famous by “Game of Thrones,” went extinct some 13,000 years ago. Now, researchers have bred gray-wolf pups that carry genes of their ancient cousins.

The world's first de-extinction?
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/s...

Trump administration rolls back forest protections in bid to ramp up logging President Donald Trump's administration has rolled back environmental protections around future logging projects on more than half of U.S. national forests under an emergency designation issued Friday...

A return to the past of resource extraction.
apnews.com/article/trum...

‘We made everything bear-proof’: the Italian village that learned to love its bears By learning to live with its ursine neighbours, mountainous Pettorano sul Gizio has drawn tourists and new residents, bucking a trend of rural decline

Missoula and other towns in Montana are using this model. I wrote about it last year for the NY Times.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Dennis the Menace star Jay North dead at 73 The former child star's friend Laurie Jacobson broke the sad news on Facebook

Jay North dead at 73: The Dennis the Menace star's 'terribly sad' friends reveal cause of death