Mice with Human Brains
The Ancient Greek Chimaera had the body of a goat with a lion’s head and a dragon’s rear end. But why settle for mythology when you can make your own real-life chimera in the lab, and lots of money at the same time?
-
Introducing the Whale Sanctuary Project
This blog is taking a break for the next few months so that I can devote my energies to the Whale Sanctuary Project. Here's why.
Is the Stock Market a Global Ponzi Scheme?
Sacred Activism in the Service of Animals
Of Humans and Persons
Spot the Clone!
Hello again, viewers, and welcome back to America’s favorite quiz show: Spot the Clone! I’ll be your host as our contestants try to decide who the real clone is.
The Worm at the Core
A new book explains why we humans are so screwed up, and why we take it out on our fellow animals.
How We Moved from Denial to Anger
The recognition is finally dawning that Planet Earth is in deep trouble. In terms of the five stages of coping with one’s impending demise, we seem to be moving, as a society, from Stage One: Denial, to Stage Two: Anger.
On Having Sex with a Pig
Last week, I happened upon the much-acclaimed TV series from the U.K. Dark Mirror – a kind of Twilight Zone for the 21st Century. In the…
Planet Fireball and the Paris Climate Talks
“By comparison to what it could have been, it’s a miracle,” said George Monbiot, climate writer for The Guardian. “By comparison to what it should have…
Trump’s Death Anxiety Campaign
Along with panicky denunciations from the shocked-horrified-and-appalled Republican establishment, there was much cheering and applause from Donald Trump’s zombie supporters when he called for “a total…
The Zuckerberg Syndrome
Mark Zuckerberg plans to donate most of his wealth (currently valued at about $45 billion) to the cause of “personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and…
Bernie, Belugas and the Home Depot
“Whew,” Bernie Marcus mutters to himself. “As long as everyone’s talking about SeaWorld, they won’t be coming after my Georgia Aquarium. At least not for the…
Anything Missing from This Word Cloud?
During the GOP debate last night on the Fox Business channel, moderator Maria Bartiromo put this word cloud up on the screen. “We asked Facebook to…
Why Our Brains Can’t Understand Climate Change
In his new book Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change, George Marshall tells the story of what happened…
Climate News to Make Your Blood Boil
What a week for climate change. A blizzard of new studies and reports. Let’s start in the Middle East – you know, that place where we…
Animal Protection as a ‘Heroic Enterprise’
Everybody loves a hero. And we all would like to be heroes. Heroism is something we humans strive for. Other kinds of animals behave heroically, too,…
The Whale Who Took Down SeaWorld
A footnote to my earlier post about the quandary now facing SeaWorld. Much credit for what’s happening in the marine circus world goes to the movie…
What Should SeaWorld Do Now?
If you were the new CEO of SeaWorld, what would you do? Last week, you saw yet another nail being driven into the coffin of your…
How to Live in the Face of Extinction
A former soldier who served in Iraq, comes home to a nation in denial, droughts and floods, mass migrations, and an epidemic of anxiety and depression.
Egg Industry Concession Is No ‘Victory’
Here we go again. The factory farms make a small concession to public opinion, and the animal welfare establishment falls all over itself in joy, calling…
For Chimps, the End of Vivisection, Almost
For six years, Hercules and Leo have endured experiments like having electrodes inserted into their muscles so that researchers at Stony Brook University can study the…
When Paradise Turns Deadly
The gentle creek that flows down Water Canyon turned deadly this week as it exploded into a flash flood killing 15 people, most of them children.…
And Now the Mass Migrations
For several years we’ve been watching other species setting off on mass migrations as our planet undergoes irreversible changes. Now we’re beginning to see mass migrations…