The Word Made Flesh

If the new pope is looking for a chief theologian, I’d like to recommend Elizabeth Johnson. She’s not only one of those American Catholic women the…

Is This the Real ‘Contagion’?

Children playing along a river bank spot hundreds of bloated pig carcasses bobbing downstream. Hundreds of miles away, people are grossed out by the rising stench…

Mysteries of Life

What is this cat telling the accordion player? [readon] And why do these kinds of videos mostly come from Russia?

Justin Bieber’s Monkey Business

Pop star says he “loves” animals … buys exotic wildlife … starts “sanctuary” (a private zoo) … takes animals with him when he travels … soon…

Chimpanzee Conducts 3-Year Study on Primates

Reprinted with courtesy SEATTLE—In what the scientific community has hailed as a breakthrough achievement, zoologists have succeeded for the first time ever in training a chimpanzee…

Coming Soon: No More Honeybees

In the last few months, the largest commercial bee operation in the country, Adee Honey Farms, has lost 55 percent of its bees. Another company, Big…

Dolphin Funeral Procession

Tourists on a whale-watching expedition off the coast of California were hoping for something like a dolphin stampede. Instead, they found themselves witnessing a funeral.

New Dangers from Factory Farm Bacteria and Antibiotics

Factory farms like to tell us that the increasingly antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the animals there can’t be transmitted to humans. A new study shows this to…

Beavers Save Wildlife Refuge from Oil Spill

After a Chevron diesel pipe broke last week north of Salt Lake City, it could have been a disaster for the nearby Willard Creek Wildlife Reserve.…

Prepare for Take-Off!

The three elephants at the Toronto Zoo have been cleared for take-off, and will soon be on their way to a new life at the PAWS…

Why Dead Pigs Are Floating Down a Chinese River

First it was 7,500 dead pigs floating down the Huangpu River two weeks ago, as it was winding its way through Shanghai. A few days later, it had risen to 13,000. And right now it’s over 16,000.

No one seems to know where they came from.

Nor how 1,000 dead ducks were floating in the Nanhe river in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province.

Slaughter Horses in U.S.? Or Export them?

We race them, ride them, take them to war, treat them as horsepower. What to do with horses when they grow old or are no longer…

What’s Driving the Cloning of Extinct Animals

Why would scientists be so intent on bringing mammoths back to life? Does it make sense to try to bring back the passenger pigeon? Will we…

Cutest Baby Sloth Ever

From (where else?) the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica. (Thanks to Lisa.)

Israel, Palestine, Peace and Water

This morning, President Obama spoke clearly to the Israeli people about why they should seek peace with their neighbors, the Palestinians. He talked about the need…

The Other Iraq War

It’s the anniversary of the “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq. And while we’re all being reminded of the colossal cost of our ongoing wars and…

Conversation with a Whale

“I’m a whale. Not to brag, but my brain is really, really big.” “I’m a human. My brain is really big, too. In fact, we humans…

Ringling Circus Plans NYC Elephant Dance

The “Elephant Walk” through the Queens Midtown Tunnel in 2010 When the Ringling/Barnum circus comes to New York City tomorrow, it will open with an “Elephant…

Life on Europa?

The ice that covers Europa is 60 miles thick. But the ocean that it covers is a rich, salty mix that appears not to be very different in makeup from our own ocean. And, according to a new study, there are breaks in the ice that allow the water to come up to the surface, So there’s a constant exchange of ice and water. And that means if you want to know what’s going on in the ocean, 60 miles down, you only have to scrape a little ice off the surface.

Sounds like a mission for a Mars-type rover. And that’s exactly what NASA is thinking, too.