In 2000, more than one billion wild-caught and captive-bred fish were bought and sold in over 100 countries. The industry supports economies throughout the world, but with inadvertent ramifications. What pet owners do not realize when they buy plecos is how large they can become; sometimes reaching 20 inches (50 centimeters) in length. When the…

Iceland’s economy runs hot and then cold—and then hot and cold again! And Icelanders like it that way. Created from a volcano more than 50million years ago, Iceland’s environment is one of the harshest yet one of the kindest when it comes to energy. The island nation sits atop this natural heat pack and is,…

Naked mole rats live approximately 30 years, which doesn’t seem too big of a feat to humans, but compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, this is an exceptionally long time. What’s also impressive is that these mole rats pretty much stay healthy until the end of their lives. Reports even say that this…

The Northwest Passage is a 900-mile long sea route through the Arctic Ocean that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Access through this passage would allow many short cuts and benefits for the shipping industry. However, it’s frozen waters and dangerous ice caps have proven to be obstacles for transport. That is, until now. This…

Tropical tree communities are moving up mountainsides to cooler habitats as temperatures rise, a new study in Global Change Biology has found. By examining the tree species present in ten one-hectare plots at various intervals over a decade, researchers found that the proportion of lowland species increased in the plots at higher elevations.

It has been a deadly year for the people who fight wildfires. In total, 32 people have lost their lives fighting fires in 2013; the highest number in nearly 20 years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Just one incident accounts for most of those deaths, the Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona. In June,…

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been leading the effort in collecting scientific evidence of climate change and in looking to answer the most important question, is it caused by human activity? Some argue that it is caused mostly by natural variability, and non-human factors. The new IPCC report, released this…

Indigenous leaders have set up roadblocks in Malaysian Borneo to protest Sarawak’s newest dam, report environmental activists who oppose the project.

Air pollution is a global problem, but it is not evenly distributed. Some areas are worse than others, of course. And air pollution can cause premature death from the diseases it can cause. Earth scientists studying air pollution have just released a map that shows air pollution deaths over time on a global scale. The…

Researchers at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany are reconstructing temperature data from trees in Turkey to better define and understand the climactic conditions. Researchers have confidently chronicled a block of time that reflects the medieval warm period including a little ice age between the 16th and 19th centuries up to…