The DNA of Deadly Pathogens Is Easy to Obtain
Nikolay Chekalin/Getty Images This story was originally published by Undark and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In November 2016, virologist David Evans traveled to Geneva for a meeting of a World Health Organization committee on smallpox research. The deadly virus had been declared eradicated 36 years earlier; the only known live samples of smallpox…
The World Made a Biodiversity Pact, And Of Course We Aren’t Part of It
The head table at the COP15 biodiversity conference in Montreal on December 15.Ryan Remiorz/AP This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Only two countries in the world have not joined the UN Convention on Biological Diversity: the Vatican and the US. Few have missed the Holy See, but…
Cop15 Negotiators Are Barely Even Mentioning the Ocean
AP/Stocktrek Images This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The ocean may cover 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and contain much of its animal life, but you might not get that impression from the UN discussions in Montreal to save global biodiversity, with some delegates fearing…
Colorado Investigators Mystified by Dozens of Cattle Deaths
Getty Images This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Investigators in Colorado have been left baffled after dozens of cattle inexplicably dropped dead in a remote corner of the state. The mystery has triggered a wave of US press coverage, with the New York Post running a headline…
Top Chef Challenge 2022: Palatable Jellyfish
Jellyfish could be a plentiful food source, but finding appetizing ways to prepare them is not easy.Agostino Petroni This story was originally published by Hakai Magazine and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On a snowy January morning in 2022, I walk into Duo, an exclusive little restaurant in the heart of the southern Italian…
We Know Wildfire Smoke Is Terrible for You. But What Does It Do to Cows?
Marty Bicek/ZUMA Wire This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. California’s wildfire season has kicked off in earnest, with the Oak Fire chewing extraordinarily quickly through the parched landscape around Yosemite National Park. The fire has burned nearly 17,000 acres so far, forcing thousands from their homes and blanketing the…