Science News

New data about the pace of climate change have called into question how much of the Everglades can ever be salvaged — and what that even means.

Following the lead of the U.S., other nations have designated marine sanctuaries and protected areas, which now cover about 6% of the world’s oceans — a bonanza for researchers but, more importantly, an important tool for safeguarding the seas.

In the unlikely setting of the world’s most populated military installation, amid all the regimented chaos, you’ll find the Endangered Species Act at work.

There’s a building boom on the Tibetan plateau, one of the world’s last remote places. The Chinese government wants to set limits on the region’s growth in order to design its own version of one of the U.S.’s proudest legacies — a national park system.

In the wetlands of eastern England, a motley team of farmers, university researchers and conservationists is digging into the region’s barley and wheat fields to turn back the clock. They seek out patches of muddy earth that hint at lost ponds lurking beneath.

Alarmed by rising rates of poaching and deforestation in central Africa, some predicted gorillas could go extinct by 2000. Instead, a concerted and sustained conservation campaign has averted the worst and given a second chance to these great apes.

Some recent studies question hydropower’s value in the fight against global warming. Critics say the benefits of hydropower are overstated — and outweighed by the harm dams can do.

The problem now is that there are too few lions, not too many. There is now an effort to protect lions, by safeguarding domestic animals on which they might prey.

Many scientists thought that most of Jamaica’s coral reef had been permanently replaced by seaweed. But today, the corals and tropical fish are slowly reappearing, thanks in part to a series of careful interventions.