Stories by David Biello

Two or more dead elephants in one place means one thing: poaching by professional killers. Another tip-off is the lack of a face, as poachers hack off the tusks to be sold for ivory.

Reaping benefits from solar panels on a home may be harder than some sales pitches suggest

A physicist may have dreamed up a new way to clean up oil spills. David Biello reports

Legal ivory markets that are supposed to only deal in stockpiles and antiques inevitably launder poached ivory. Close them all, says WCS vice president for species conservation. David Biello reports

 

Get used to algae blooms, they may be coming to a body of water near you

Researchers are rethinking century-old observations as they witness the unexpected and peculiar perils that are emerging from thawing Arctic permafrost

Human activity has left permanent marks on the planet

Cyanobacteria fed by nutrients carried over the Atlantic in African dust may have initiated the process by which, over millions of years, calcium carbonate collected to build the Bahamas. David Biello reports

 

Of four common corals and algae tested, three still produced shells in conditions that mimic oceans if atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached 1,000 ppm. David Biello reports
 

Is the planet undergoing the sixth mass extinction in its history courtesy of the human species?

At test sites, the exposure of rock by ants accelerated the absorption of atmospheric CO₂ by the rock by as much as 335 times compared with ant-free areas. David Biello reports

 

HIV health workers, a WHO staffer and at least one top AIDS researcher were among those killed when a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over Ukraine

Of all the things to be leaking methane on Staten Island in New York City—corroded gas pipes, sewers, the Fresh Kills dump—who would have suspected the mail truck?

These “unnatural base pairs” are a first for synthetic biology

How existing cities expand and new cities emerge will determine how humanity fares in the 21st century. David Biello reports

 

Take a solar panel. Surround it with light-emitting diodes attached to a microprocessor and, in northern climes at least, some kind of heater.

Environmental destruction—from smuggling elephant tusks to illegal dumping of toxic waste—generates as much as $213 billion annually for criminals and terrorists. David Biello reports

 

Human actions may have caused the species’s populations to grow huge as well as led to its demise

Computer models show that increased levels of greenhouse gases, along with their trapped heat, will make the atmosphere more stagnant, leading to many more days of unhealthy air. David Biello reports.

 

Electric cars, no matter how sexy, still have a battery problem

The Global Alliance on Health and Pollution calls for a war against pollution to save the lives of more than eight million people annually. David Biello reports

 

Is de-extinction a real possibility?

Thanks to us humans, there's a new type of rock in the geologic record. And it's part plastic. David Biello reports

 

400 PPM: What’s Next for a Warming Planet Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached this level for the first time in millions of years.