Help Our Feathered Friends: Volunteer For the Great Backyard Bird Count Worldwide

Help Our Feathered Friends: Volunteer For the Great Backyard Bird Count Worldwide

House Finch – Credit: James Tornetta via Cornell Lab of Ornithology / Macaulay Library Do you love bluebirds, finches, and chickadees? Why not count birds in your community with your kids and friends during the Great Backyard Bird Count in 2026. Our mental health is nurtured by nature—and it will take under an hour to … Read more

One Glacier Is Actually Growing–and Perplexed Scientists Hope to Discover its Secrets

One Glacier Is Actually Growing–and Perplexed Scientists Hope to Discover its Secrets

The Vanch-Yakh Glacier in 1992 – credit CC 4.0. BY-SA Jaan Kunnap Over the decades, a glacier in Central Asia appears to have been growing when almost every other glacier on Earth has been shrinking. Now, a scientific expedition has recovered ice cores containing 30,000 years of frozen water in the hopes that somewhere inside … Read more

Western Tatami Mat Mania Keeping Alive Japan’s Traditional Woven Grass Flooring Industry

Western Tatami Mat Mania Keeping Alive Japan’s Traditional Woven Grass Flooring Industry

A modern tatami room – credit, Filiz Elaerts on Unsplash Western admirers of Japanese aesthetic are keeping afloat tatami craftsmen in Japan, where modernity and maintenance requirements are driving down interest in this artisanal form of flooring. From Europe to the US and even in the Middle East, eager importers of tatami mats now account … Read more

30,000 Animals Rescued from Illegal Captivity in the Largest Wildlife Trafficking Raid in History

30,000 Animals Rescued from Illegal Captivity in the Largest Wildlife Trafficking Raid in History

Poaching suspects and the elephant ivory they were holding in Angola – credit, INTERPOL, released INTERPOL recently executed the largest-ever edition of its annual series of coordinated of raids to dismantle criminal shipments and networks of trafficked and poached wildlife. Called Operation Thunder, some 30,000 live animals were seized in 4,620 raids across 134 countries, … Read more