A photograph of Cyanea pohaku from The indigenous trees of the Hawaiian Islands (1913)

Cyanea Pohaku: The Plant Discovered Right Before Extinction

Cyanea pohaku, the extinction of which can be traced to human interventions in the environment, was gone before we had a chance to really study it.
E. O. Wilson, 2003

E. O. Wilson and Biodiversity

Everyone talks about biodiversity these days, but an entomologist just might be its fiercest advocate.
koala

Are Koalas Really Going Extinct?

A report from the Australian Koala Foundation declaring koalas "functionally extinct" has caused a confusing scare. What does it mean?
Zika_Mosquito

What Do We Lose When We Lose a Species?

Debates about the moral value of biodiversity are longstanding in the world of environmental ethics, and the issue is far from settled.
Take

Restoring the Prehistoric Horse

It’s the National Day of the Horse! Do You Know Where the Real Wild Horses Live?
Restoration of an American mastodon herd by Charles R. Knight

This Week in Sustainability: From Ice Age to Internet Age, Scientists Look for Clues to Species’ Extinctions

Scientists explore the causes--climate change, habitat destruction, and more--that decimated animals and humans alike, from Ice Age to Internet Age.
anolis proboscis lizard

Will Optimistic Stories Get People to Care About Nature?

Research shows that negative messaging is not the most effective way forward.
Tasmanian Tigers

Is The Tasmanian Tiger Really Extinct?

A team of researchers is making one last attempt to find a living Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, 30 years after its official disappearance.
A colorful map measures gravity anomalies around the Chicxulub crater

How We Know What Killed the Dinosaurs

How do we know that a meteor caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?
Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton (the specimen AMNH 5027) at American Museum of Natural History.

An Asteroid Killed the Dinosaurs. Right?

What killed the dinosaurs? An asteroid wiped them out, right? New research suggests that even before that cataclysm, dinosaurs weren't doing so well.