She Was on the Front Lines of Whale Conservation. Now She’s on the Front Lines of War.
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.The first time I spoke with Olga Shpak, I made the mistake of beginning as I often do when interviewing researchers: by asking for some basic biographical information. “I used to be a scientist,” she said, not sounding bitter,…
Alaskan Fishing Boats Are Poaching Threatened Canadian Salmon
A sockeye (red salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka) in British Columbia’s Horsefly River.Mark Conlin/VW PICS/UIG/Getty This story was originally published by Canada’s National Observer and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. American fishing boats catching threatened Canadian salmon was flagged as a top concern for federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray before meeting with the US ambassador…
Why Is Lauren Boebert Trolling Her Own Bill?
Gary Kramer/US Fish and Wildlife Service/AP/File Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Last week, a bill introduced by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) received a hearing. For some congresspeople, this would not be news. For Boebert it is: In her first term, she sponsored 41 pieces…
It’s Time We Talked About Our Bambi Problem
A herd of deer in their summer coats.Ernst Haas / Getty This story was originally published by Hakai Magazine and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Clear blue sky above a forested island surrounded by glittering sea. Wild. Uninhabited. Protected. It appears as if we’re approaching paradise. We cut the boat’s engine and nose…
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…