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Biology

A collection of 1245 articles

Just Plant Trees? It’s Not So Simple

With the many converging crises, we are looking for a quick fix to our problems. Too much carbon dioxide in the air? Plant more trees. I hear that constantly. Yes, of course we need the trees. But planting trees is no longer the solution to the enormous level of emissions in our air.

More than 150 false killer whales stranded on a beach in Australia's Tasmania state

In this photo provided by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, a woman inspects a whale after more than 150 false killer whales have become stranded on Feb. 19, 2025, on a remote beach near Arthur River in Australia's island state of Tasmania. Department of Natural Resources and

The Light Triad

(Recorded February 12th, 2025) Description Deception and self-interest seem to be increasingly prevalent in our modern cultural reality. From the highest levels of power to the cultural metrics of what is considered ‘success’ for individual humans: the Dark Triad traits of Narcissism, Sociopathy, and Machiavellianism have become disturbingly normalized. But

The Intricate Connection of Birdsongs to Human Language

Introduction Birdsongs have inspired poets and lovers, becoming one of the philosophical focal points in ancient Greece and Rome.

Rethinking Rank and Privilege in Human Societies

This article was produced by Human Bridges. For two centuries, archaeologists, historians, and social scientists studied human societies in search of the origins of hierarchy—a layered structure where power and privilege are concentrated in the top layer. Realizing that this model failed to account for the real-life complexity of

Putting Nature at the Center

Life may be unique to Earth.

While plastic dominates human consumption, the global economy will remain hooked on fossil fuels

In early December 2024, hopes for a landmark global treaty to curb plastic pollution were dashed as negotiations in South Korea stalled. Leading the campaign against the deal were major oil-producing nations, especially Saudi Arabia and Russia, who argued for a more flexible approach to any legally binding limits on

Future Natures: On Seeing Commons through Popular Genres

In academic research about the commons, few scholars are as venturesome in their creative approaches than the scholars and researchers associated with the Centre for Future Natures, at the University of Sussex in England. Led by anthropologist and research fellow Amber Huff, Future Natures explores “ecologies of crisis, commons, and

Power vs Life: Towards Wide Boundary Sovereignty

(Recorded January 20th, 2025) Description We are alive at a critical juncture for human civilization, and the biosphere, where the pursuit and accumulation of power – accelerated by technology and AI – increasingly threatens the support systems of the diversity and majesty of complex life on Earth. These high stakes of our

As climate change supercharges disease, Trump pulls US from World Health Organization

“This story was originally published by Grist.

Are we too smart for our own good?

Evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr (1904-2005)—who, I’m told, was a very smart person—concluded, late in life, that high intelligence may be a lethal mutation. In this article, we’ll explore some reasons for this startling and paradoxical assessment. Intelligence is useful and entertaining. Companies go out of their

We Have Entered the Era of ‘Global Boiling’—Marine Wildlife, Ecosystems, and Economies Are Being Devastated

Introduction The ocean absorbs 90 percent of the excess heat generated by burning fossil fuels and deforestation. Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is the primary driver of long-term global warming. Today, humanity is officially in uncharted waters. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, in February 2024, the

Human use of fire has produced an era of uncontrolled burning: Welcome to the Pyrocene

Los Angeles is burning, but it isn’t alone.

Decisions, Decisions

In my continuing pursuit of humility as an antidote to modernity’s human supremacy illness, the atoms that constitute who I am take issue with lofty and self-aggrandizing concepts of idealism, dualism, and free will—replaced by the unflattering material world and its staggering wealth of emergent complexity. I have

Finding our way home. Part I: What are we missing?

Only in the last moment in history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.