With grizzly populations on the rebound in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, federal officials are considering lifting protections on the threatened species. As early as 2014, officials are considering transferring authority over the estimated 1,600 bears in Glacier and Yellowstone to individual states, who have expressed interest in opening a hunt to reduce the rising incidence of bear-human encounters. But officials insist that the hunt would not be as aggressive as the controversial w... Read More
Photographer: Courtesy of Russian Emergencies Ministry
Two fishermen who were rescued in Siberia after spending three months stranded in the taiga are suspected to have killed and eaten one of their companions. Alexei Gradulenko, 35, and Alexander Abdullaev, 37, were picked up by helicopter months after getting lost on the remote Sutam River in temperatures that dipped below -20 degrees Fahrenheit. Police in Neryungri in northern Russia's Sakha Republic say they've launched a murder investigation after finding a wooden stake and a bloodstained... Read More
New research presented at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco has determined that mercury from the ocean is most likely seeping into cloudbanks that roll in from the coast. Though mercury had previously been detected in California fog, its source was a mystery.
Though the concentration of mercury isn’t high enough to harm anyone walking through it, its presence suggests that the element is beginning to accumulate in the coast’s water cycle. Mercury also accu... Read More
A new study warns that populations of African lions are in danger of becoming extinct due to human development. Satellite data, studied by researchers at Duke University, show that about 75 percent of Africa’s open savannah has disappeared in the last 50 years, given over to farming or settlement. Over that same period, lion populations have dropped by two-thirds to as few as 32,000. According to the study, African lions are now divided up into 67 different areas, only 10 of which are we... Read More
The largest solar power plant in Africa will be built in Ghana, according to Blue Energy, the British renewable energy developer behind the planned plant. The project is expected to cost around $400 million, and it should be finished October 15, developers say. The plant, which will be built in Western Ghana, near the village of Aiwiaso, is predicted to increase the country’s electricity capacity by six percent, while also creating 500 construction jobs and 200 permanent, plant-related j... Read More
