Are COVID-19 Lockdowns Really Causing Nature to Heal?
May 26, 2021 · Share. As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold last spring and people around the world went into lockdown, a certain type of news story started to spring up—the idea that, in the absence of people, nature was returning to a healthier, more pristine state. There were viral reports of dolphins in the canals of Venice, Italy, and pumas in the streets ...
Why We Can’t Shake Ambergris - Hakai Magazine
Aug 17, 2021 · In December 2020, British woman Jodie Crews posted photos online of a mysterious object she’d found at a beach. One helpful respondent suggested poking the object with a hot pin to see if it smoked, a common (if unreliable) test for ambergris. Crews did, and the object exploded into flames, setting fire to her kitchen.
Fish Feel Pain. Now What? - Hakai Magazine
Jan 2, 2018 · It’s likely different from what humans feel, but it is still a kind of pain.”. At the anatomical level, fish have neurons known as nociceptors, which detect potential harm, such as high temperatures, intense pressure, and caustic chemicals. Fish produce the same opioids—the body’s innate painkillers—that mammals do.
What Survives the Storm - Hakai Magazine
Sep 16, 2021 · StEER engineers are now busily assessing the devastation from Hurricane Ida, which smashed into the Louisiana coast on August 29. Their experience in 2020 with Hurricane Laura, which hit just down the coast with 240-kilometer-per-hour winds, offers a road map for their research. Last August, Laura marched right up its well-predicted path as ...
Iceland’s Confusing Inter-cetacean Conflict | Hakai Magazine
Sep 23, 2021 · Interactions between killer and pilot whales have only been scientifically documented a few times, and Samarra is among the first scientists to have observed this behavior in Iceland. Since the 2015 encounter, she’s seen similar interactions around 20 times. Iceland’s pilot whales may be assuming that the killer whales in the area, which ...
Steller’s Sea Cows’ Ecological Legacy | Hakai Magazine
Oct 8, 2021 · Article body copy. In the chilly waters off Russia’s Commander Islands, a Steller’s sea cow grazed on kelp fronds. The buoyant behemoth sheltered her calf close to shore and away from predators. Seabirds perched on their exposed backs, eating parasites from their skin. It was here, some 250 years ago, that these giant sirenians met their end.
The Mysterious, Vexing, and Utterly Engrossing Search for the …
Sep 13, 2022 · In the fourth century BCE, Aristotle proclaimed that eels spontaneously generated within “the entrails of the earth” and that they didn’t have genitals. The no-genital theory held for generations. Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder asserted that eels rubbed against rocks and their dead skin “scrapings come to life.”.
The Lion, the Land Bridge, and the New World | Hakai Magazine
Mar 13, 2023 · About 63,000 years ago, Salis says, a second wave of cave lions crossed into eastern Beringia—now Alaska and Yukon. For some reason, these cave lions stayed above the ice sheets, remaining separate from American lions that had already dispersed south. Salis’s research revealed that this lion lineage went extinct around 33,000 years ago.
For a Peek Inside Wisconsin’s Watery Past, Thank the Microbes
May 5, 2021 · For a Peek Inside Wisconsin’s Watery Past, Thank the Microbes. Since its discovery in the 1980s, a fossil site in a Milwaukee suburb has borne some of the best-preserved soft-bodied organisms from the Silurian. by Jack Tamisiea. May 5, 2021 | 950 words, about 4 minutes. This story is over 3 years old.
Petrifying Climate Change - Hakai Magazine
Jun 3, 2021 · The biggest seems to be the amount of solids the process would create once it’s operating at a scale meaningful enough to affect climate change. Removing 10 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide from the ocean, for instance, would yield 20 gigatonnes of carbonates—at a minimum, says Sant. He does have an idea for what to do with all these solids ...