(Natural News) In the movies, sharks threaten humans, especially if they rode tornadoes inland. In real life, however, it’s the other way around: Human commercial fishing threatens to drive sharks and their relatives, rays, into extinction. A U.K. team counted the number of sharks and rays accidentally caught by small-scale fisheries in the South West […]

(Natural News) The next time a person encounters a bug in his garden, he may want to rein in his reflexive response of crushing it like a, well, bug. Some of these critters fulfill beneficial roles such as delivering pollen to flowers and devouring actual pest species. Start with the praying mantis, one of the […]

(Natural News) There is a reason why residents of Ontario haven’t seen many American bumblebees (Bombus pensylvanicus) in recent years. Canadian researchers warned that the once-common and vital pollinators are teetering on the brink of extinction. A recent study discovered that the Canadian population of the bumblebee species has reached the point of imminent local extinction. […]

(Natural News) Nearly 13,000 years ago, Earth’s Northern Hemisphere got clobbered by a fragmenting comet. New evidence found by University of California Santa Barbara researchers suggested that the extreme impact event also affected the weather and ecology of the Southern Hemisphere. The Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) Impact Hypothesis proposed that the comet strike triggered climate […]

(Natural News) Volcanoes could have caused the worst mass extinction on Earth. According to researchers from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and the China University of Geosciences (CUG), the most reliable evidence for this outcome comes from a recent mercury discovery buried in layers of ancient rock. The event, known as the Permian-Triassic (P-T) extinction, took place 252 million years ago […]

(Natural News) Home gardening is considered by many as one of the most rewarding hobbies. It lets you exercise (especially if you do most tasks by hand) and helps you save money on groceries. But how do you start cultivating a garden in your backyard? (h/t to AYearWithoutTheGroceryStore.com) Cultivating your own garden means you can grow fresh […]

(Natural News) Birds possess sharp hearing, all the better to catch their prey. A new study on alligators suggests that the crocodilians share the same ability. And both groups of animals might have shared the same keen sense of hearing with dinosaurs. Birds are often described as feathery dinosaurs. Crocodilians are also considered to be the closest […]

(Natural News) “Everybody loves kung fu fighting” goes the popular song. The chart-topping song was even more well-known thanks to Bruce Lee, who popularized the ancient martial art at the box office. The song ushered in a generation who grew up wishing they had at least half the moves that the world-famous kung fu master […]

(Natural News) Families that keep dogs as pets often enjoy the company of these adorable and loyal animals. According to a study published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing, dogs used in pet therapy can also help relieve situational anxiety among hospitalized children. What is pet therapy? Pet therapy refers to the guided interaction between an […]

(Natural News) At least one species of monkey seems to understand that low-frequency sounds travel much further than high-pitched ones. Whenever a Geoffroy’s spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) gets separated from its group, the animal deliberately reduces the pitch of its calls. By lowering the frequency of its voice, the isolated monkey makes itself heard over […]