Sustainability
How Zoos Acquire Endangered Species
How do you transport two young orangutans to a zoo thousands of kilometers away from their native lands? Here's the simple answer: FedEx. Here's the less simple answer: It's a lot of work...
Extinction Countdown
News and research about endangered species from around the world
Sunday Species Snapshot: Swift Parrot
The beautiful bird known as the swift parrot may be on the fast track to extinction. Species name: Swift parrot (Lathamus discolor) Description: A small bird, just 25 centimeters long, with bright features and a particularly showy attitude...
Sustainability
Keeping Tiny Delta Smelt Alive in Captivity is No Small Feat
The delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) may be all but extinct in the wild, but it turns out that hope is not quite lost for this controversial California fish.
Sustainability
Hungry Polar Bears Could Soon Start Devastating Bird Populations
A hungry polar bear (Ursus maritimus) will eat just about anything. Oh sure, they prefer to dine on nice fatty seals (I mean, what Arctic creature wouldn't?), but when push comes to shove they'll eat caribou, walruses, nuts, birds, and even stinky, rotten whale carcasses...
Evolution
With 6 Left, Controversial Fish Species Faces Extinction
Are we about to witness the extinction of the controversial delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus)? The most recent survey for the tiny fish, over which decades of battles over water rights have been fought, counted just four females and two males...
Sustainability
If Apes Go Extinct, So Could Entire Forests
Bonobo poop matters. Well, maybe not the poop itself, but what's in it. You see, bonobos eat a lot of fruit, and fruit contains seeds. Those seeds travel through a bonobo's digestive system while the bonobo itself travels through the landscape...
Sustainability
After 400 Million Years, Coelacanth at Risk of Extinction
It may have hidden in the ocean for millions of years, but life today poses numerous challenges for the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), the "living fossil" fish that was famously rediscovered off the coast of South Africa in 1938...
Sustainability
Critically Endangered Plant with Brilliant Purple Flowers Discovered in Hawaii
Here's the crazy thing about living in Hawaii: Even though the islands are home to more than 18,000 unique species that live nowhere else on Earth, the people of Hawaii rarely see those native plants and animals...
Sustainability
Amur Leopard Population Booms…to 57
The world's rarest big cats have become ever-so-slightly less rare over the past decade. According to a census released this week, there are now at least 57 Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis) in Russia...
Species Snapshot: Sunda Pangolin
Today is World Pangolin Day, an occasion to recognize the rapidly impending extinction of the eight species of scaly anteaters from Africa and Asia.
Blog Index
@ScientificAmerican
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Anecdotes from the Archive
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Anthropology in Practice
Exploring the human condition.
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Beautiful Minds
Insights into intelligence, creativity, personality, and well-being
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Budding Scientist
Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
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Cross-Check
Critical views of science in the news
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Dark Star Diaries
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Dog Spies
Explore the science behind the dog in your bed
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Extinction Countdown
News and research about endangered species from around the world
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Eye of the Storm
The Science Behind Extreme Weather
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Frontiers for Young Minds
Science by and for kids ages 8-15
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Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American
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Hot Planet
Climate science in a changing world
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Illusion Chasers
Illusions, Delusions, and Everyday Deceptions
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Life, Unbounded
Discussion and news about planets, exoplanets, and astrobiology
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Observations
Opinion, arguments & analyses from guest experts and from the editors of Scientific American
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Roots of Unity
Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
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Rosetta Stones
Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
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SA Visual
STAFFIllustrating science since 1845
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Talking back
STAFFA science blog, sans blague
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The Artful Amoeba
A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
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Voices
Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
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