strange behaviors

Cool doings from the natural and human worlds

  • Richard Conniff

  • Reviews for Richard Conniff’s Books

    The Kindle version of my book Spineless Wonders: Strange Tales from the Invertebrate World is currently on sale for just $4.99.  The New York Times Book Review says,  “With wit & elegance [Conniff] persuades the queasiest reader to share his fascination with the extravagant variety of invertebrates & their strategies.”

    Ending Epidemics: A History of Escape from Contagion: “Ending Epidemics is an important book, deeply and lovingly researched, written with precision and elegance, a sweeping story of centuries of human battle with infectious disease. Conniff is a brilliant historian with a jeweler’s eye for detail. I think the book is a masterpiece.” Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone and The Demon in the Freezer

    The Species Seekers:  Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth by Richard Conniff is “a swashbuckling romp” that “brilliantly evokes that just-before Darwin era” (BBC Focus) and “an enduring story bursting at the seams with intriguing, fantastical and disturbing anecdotes” (New Scientist). “This beautifully written book has the verve of an adventure story” (Wall St. Journal)

    Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time by Richard Conniff  is “Hilariously informative…This book will remind you why you always wanted to be a naturalist.” (Outside magazine) “Field naturalist Conniff’s animal adventures … are so amusing and full color that they burst right off the page …  a quick and intensely pleasurable read.” (Seed magazine) “Conniff’s poetic accounts of giraffes drifting past like sail boats, and his feeble attempts to educate Vervet monkeys on the wonders of tissue paper will leave your heart and sides aching.  An excellent read.” (BBC Focus magazine)

  • Wall of the Dead

    A Memorial to Fallen Naturalists

    Ending Epidemics: Expanded Endnotes

     

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Weekly Green News Roundup

Posted by Richard Conniff on February 15, 2014

Here’s the weekly roundup of environmental news form the Nature Conservancy’s Cool Green Science blog:

Wildlife

Roadkill party! Naturalist Bernd Heinrich celebrates the critters that clean up dead things. (NY Times)

Unusual vacation: spot a wild solenodon, one of the world’s most elusive animals (and one of the few land mammals in the Caribbean). (Mammal Watching)

Why Irrawaddy dolphins are “jerks to study” – and why we should care about their demise, anyway. (Deep Sea News)

Nature might have thrown the increasingly inbred and dwindling population of wolves of Isle Royale a genetic lifeline: An ice bridge has formed across Lake Superior, allowing potential mating with mainlanders. (Nature)

New Research

What makes an marine protected area effective? Five things — and most MPAs don’t have them. (Nature)

Science has dating advice for spiders. It turns out that some males are more successful when they bring their lady a gift (Wired Science)

You might know that plastics are made from oil, but did you know that plastic bags can be turned into diesel fuel? (PhysOrg)

A newly discovered plant species is a microcosm of biodiversity with over 40 dependent insect species (Science Daily)

Sure we know carbs are bad for us, but did a low-protein diet kill off the mammoths? (Reuters)

Climate Change

Suspect #249 in the decade-long “pause” in global warming — Pacific trade winds (Nature Climate Change)

What can rationalize farming decisions in West Africa – and predict meningitis and malaria outbreaks there, too? Try this data set. (SciDev.net)

The political divide on climate change is not as bad as it seems. 83% of Americans say US should fight climate change even if there are economic costs. (Yale e360)

Climate change shuffles species, but maybe in a predictable way.  (EurekAlert!)

Nature News

Despite falling palm oil prices, premium rises for sustainably-certified product. (Mongabay)

China gets serious about smog with a 1.6 billion dollar fund to combat air pollution. (Reuters)

Birds are eating even more plastic than we realized. (Conservation Magazine)

Conservation Tactics

How chili peppers can help save wild elephants. (CNN)

Recreational anglers and conservationists work well together in the US and Europe. In Australia? Not so much. (Fishing World)

Science Communications

A story for Grisham: Herbicide maker Syngenta takes on the wrong dude in Tyrone Hayes. (Knight Science Journalism Tracker)

Happy Birthday, Mr. Darwin

Busted! Ingenious and irreverent new takes on depicting Darwin for his 205th birthday. (ScienceShot)

Killifish evolve genetic resistance to PCB’s in New Bedford Harbor (WHOI)

Investigation of illegal reptile trade unearths a new (and gorgeous) species of sailfin dragon. (ScienceNow)

What a pedigree! New species of rove beetle gets names from Charles Darwin and David Sedaris. (International Science Times)

Have suggestions for next week’s Cooler? Send them to mdowns[at]tnc.org.

Opinions expressed on Cool Green Science and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Nature Conservancy.

– See more at: http://blog.nature.org/science/2014/02/14/oil-from-grocery-bags-elephant-repellent-roadkill-and-more/#sthash.WgO1BYhY.dpuf

This entry was posted on February 15, 2014 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Environmental Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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