The Birds Who Call Us Home
In springtime in North America, purple martins spread joy as they return to their nest boxes—is that enough motivation for us to ward off an avian housing crisis?
The Search for the Perfect Snail Snack 03.26.2026 News - Hawai‘i’s depleted land snails are eking out an existence in human care. Giving them a brighter future means figuring out what they actually want to eat. 
Lisbon’s COVID-19 Dolphin Resurgence is Coming to an End 03.19.2026 News - In Portugal, as around the world, the benefits of lockdown to wildlife have proved fleeting. 
Can Rockhoppers Survive the Next Leap? 03.18.2026 Article - These daredevil penguins persevere in seemingly impossible places despite the challenges they face. 
Singing Teachers for Honeyeaters 03.13.2026 News - Scientists have saved the song of a critically endangered Australian bird by recruiting wild males to tutor zoo-born babies. 
How “Fire Fungi” Help Put Burnt Landscapes Back Together 03.12.2026 News - Before plants and animals recolonize after a wildfire, fungi get to work. 
The Bard and the Birds 03.05.2026 Spotlight - The frilled collars of ruffs—and the birds’ elaborate mating rituals—are straight out of a Shakespearean drama. 
The Rodent With a Desert on its Shoulders 03.04.2026 Article - In a refuge rarely visited by people, California’s giant kangaroo rat helps other species thrive. 
The Ghosts of Conservation Past 02.26.2026 Article - A look back at the United States’ outsize influence on global conservation reveals why the latest funding cuts should come as no surprise. 
In the Wake of the Storm 02.26.2026 Article - A scientist tracks how cuts to federal funding are reshaping coastal communities, research, and species management in Alaska. 
The Future of Conservation Without U.S. Aid 02.26.2026 Article - The Trump administration’s cuts to biodiversity funding have imperiled species, habitats, and the people who defend both. Now the world seeks a new way forward. 
The Fight for the Heart of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 02.26.2026 News - One year after the Trump administration threw the EPA into chaos, former employees continue to push back—and to dream of an agency reborn. 
After the Outbreak 02.12.2026 News - A northern gannet colony devastated by avian influenza is slowly recovering—and so are the researchers who witnessed the virus’s wrath. 
A Mysterious Salmon-Killing Affliction is a Mystery No More 02.06.2026 News - In California, scientists tracked the source of a severe vitamin deficiency that’s killing endangered fish. 
Lessons in Longevity 02.05.2026 Article - Pronghorn have survived even as the mammals they evolved alongside have perished. Can they weather the uncertain future of the Anthropocene? 
The Curse of Dead Corals 01.29.2026 News - When heat waves bleach reefs, do dead coral skeletons help or hinder recovery? 
The Rwandan City Where Wetlands Are Winning 01.28.2026 Article - To save its citizens from floods, Kigali is betting big on wetland restoration. 
The Eyes Have It 01.23.2026 Spotlight - The mysterious northern pygmy squid develops into a brilliant predator. 
How to Kill a Million Sea Stars 01.22.2026 News - Synthetic pheromones offer a promising new means of controlling troublesome crown-of-thorns starfish. 
When Squirrels Meet the Delmar Divide 01.15.2026 News - Segregation in St. Louis, Missouri, is shaping the genetics of the city’s eastern gray squirrels. 
Is it Too Soon to Whoop for Whooping Cranes? 01.14.2026 Article - Conservationists managed to save North America’s whooping cranes from extinction once, but the birds now face mounting threats in their winter habitat along the coast of Texas. 
Pachyderm Pharmacies 01.08.2026 News - Scientists find that elephants who raid farms might be looking for medicinal plants, sparking a cross-species exchange of pharmaceutical knowledge. 
Sticking the Landing 12.19.2025 Spotlight - Tree and torrent frogs defy gravity with complicated toes. 
American Kestrels put the Cherry on Top 12.17.2025 News - The diminutive falcons keep pests and poop away from one of Michigan's prized crops. 
Mercury Rising 12.12.2025 News - When Alaska’s wolves began eating sea otters, it looked like a story of adaptation. Then they started getting sick. 
Pelagic Pack Animals 12.10.2025 Spotlight - Gelatinous salps shuttle tiny creatures and excess carbon into the deep. 
Charting a Course Through Bears’ Eyes 12.04.2025 News - In British Columbia, stewards from the Heiltsuk First Nation are using computational models and Indigenous knowledge to protect bears’ access to salmon. 
Colorado Has Wolves Again for the First Time in 80 Years. Why Are They Dying? 12.03.2025 News - A controversial reintroduction program is off to a messy start. 
The Scourge of Native Oaks is Blowing in the Wind 11.25.2025 Article - Scientists and conservationists in the U.S. Midwest are working to stop industrial herbicides from drifting onto the region’s remaining hardwood trees. 
The Collateral Damage of Climate Migration 11.20.2025 News - As the planet warms, people are moving—bringing familiar fights to new battlegrounds. 
The Snowshoe Effect 11.18.2025 Spotlight - The Svalbard rock ptarmigan, Earth’s northernmost land bird, is finely tuned for winter survival. 
Life Finds a Way, Even on Inactive Hydrothermal Vents 11.14.2025 News - In the darkness of the deep sea, animals flourish on hydrothermal vents that have gone cold. 
The Comeback Croc 11.10.2025 Article - American crocodiles are booming in Florida, thanks to a little help from a nuclear power plant. 
Critical Minerals? There’s a Plant for That 11.06.2025 News - Could phytomining—using plants to pull metal out of the soil—put the green in “green transition”? 
Investigating a Treetop Baby Boom 11.05.2025 Article - Why a sudden spike in pregnancies in one Madagascan lemur population might actually be a bad sign for the species. 
Love the Habitat You’re With 10.31.2025 Article - Locals in Tucson, Arizona are applying “reconciliation ecology” techniques to rehabilitate the region’s degraded landscapes and waterways. 
The Wild Elephant in the Room 10.29.2025 Article - Conservationists seeking to restore elephant populations in a Malawian national park inadvertently upended human lives, revealing the risks of large-mammal translocations. 
These Fish Can Adjust to Heatwaves—And Pass the Resilience on to Their Offspring 10.15.2025 News - Though scientists aren’t quite sure how they do it, three-spined sticklebacks show an unexpected fortitude in the face of repeated heatwaves. 
