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Benji Jones

Benji Jones

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What scientists saw underwater in Florida left them “shocked” — and devastated

The idea of extinction — the permanent loss of life — is frightening. Yet the stakes of losing plants and animals are often unclear. If an...

yesterday 0

Vox

Benji Jones

Miankina amin’ny ranomasina izy ireo mba hivelomany. Saingy ankehitriny, miharava ny aina velona ao an-dranomasina.

This story is also available in English. Click here to read that version. HELODRANON’NY RANOBE, Madagasikara — Ny haran-dranomasina (vatohara) izy...

previous day 3

Vox

Benji Jones

Scientists are testing a surprising approach to fighting hunger in one of the poorest places on Earth

BAY OF RANOBE, Madagascar — The coral reef itself was exquisite. Growing about 3 miles offshore in 50 feet of water, it was a rugged terrain of...

tuesday 20

Vox

Benji Jones

Most animals on this island nation are found nowhere else on Earth. And now they’re vanishing.

Throughout the Western world, Madagascar is perhaps best known as a hot spot for wildlife, home to lemurs, chameleons, and other animals — a...

tuesday 10

Vox

Benji Jones

Jane Goodall’s Final, Urgent, Message

Jane Goodall’s Final, Urgent, Message

This story was originally published by Vox and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Jane Goodall, one of the most...

02.10.2025 2

Mother Jones

Benji Jones

Listen to Jane Goodall’s final — and urgent — message

Jane Goodall, one of the most influential environmental figures in human history, has died at 91 while doing what she’s done for most of her later...

02.10.2025 100

Vox

Benji Jones

The most miraculous animal migration is happening in the middle of New York City

BROOKLYN, New York — When people imagine what nature looks like, this probably wouldn’t be it. On an overcast afternoon in August, I stood next to...

12.09.2025 10

Vox

Benji Jones

The search for Earth’s most mysterious creatures is turning up extraordinary results

It’s easy to assume, as many people do, that our planet is well explored. In the last few centuries, humans have summited Earth’s highest peaks,...

02.09.2025 10

Vox

Benji Jones

Rudolph and all of the other reindeer are probably dying from climate change

It’s bad enough that climate change is ruining the dream of a white Christmas for many people, as warming makes snow in some regions less likely....

13.08.2025 3

Vox

Benji Jones

The twisted reason why the Trump administration claims to care about eagles

The Trump administration is worried, it would seem, about eagles — like, the big birds of prey with sharp talons and famously good eyesight. ...

12.08.2025 3

Vox

Benji Jones

Giant invasive frogs are wreaking havoc on the West

On summer evenings in the Midwest, the muggy air comes alive with a chorus of crickets, cicadas, and frogs — especially bullfrogs. Their booming...

07.08.2025 30

Vox

Benji Jones

See the Bizarre Life Forms Scientists Found More Than 31,000 Feet Under the Ocean Surface

This story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The Titanic lies about 12,500 feet...

03.08.2025 2

Mother Jones

Benji Jones

See the bizarre life forms scientists discovered more than 30,000 feet under the Pacific Ocean

The Titanic lies about 12,500 feet under the ocean. The pressure down there is so immense that even submersibles supposedly built for those conditions...

30.07.2025 3

Vox

Benji Jones

Motion cameras were set up in the jungles of Guatemala — and they captured something incredible

During a nasty summer heat wave — see: much of the US right now — water is a reliable source of relief. Where there are no rivers or lakes to swim...

27.07.2025 40

Vox

Benji Jones

What the heck is “corn sweat” and is it making the Midwest more dangerous?

Ah, yes, late July in the Midwest: a time for popsicles by the lake, a trip to the county fair, and, of course, extreme humidity made more miserable...

24.07.2025 100

Vox

Benji Jones

The government stepped in to clean up a disaster in North Carolina. Then they created another one.

POLK COUNTY, North Carolina — The small section of forest before me looked as though it was clear-cut. The ground was flat and treeless, covered in...

23.07.2025 30

Vox

Benji Jones

Scientists are trekking into the heart of a hurricane disaster zone — to save these rare creatures

HENDERSON COUNTY, North Carolina — Once again, I found myself staring at a crack in a large rock on the side of a mountain. It was June, and rainy,...

14.07.2025 6

Vox

Benji Jones

Scientists put motion cameras along the US-Mexico border to spy on wildlife. The footage is spectacular — and telling.

The border wall between the US and Mexico is, of course, a barrier meant to prevent human migrants from crossing into America as they seek work,...

23.06.2025 10

Vox

Benji Jones

Scientists are dropping live mosquitoes out of drones in Hawaii. Here’s why.

It sounds like something out of a nightmare: a giant drone flying through the sky and dropping containers full of live, buzzing mosquitoes, one of the...

16.06.2025 10

Vox

Benji Jones

Is Your Hummingbird Feeder a Lifeline or a Death Trap?

Hummingbirds run on sugar. Sweet nectar powers their tiny, furious bodies and super-fast wings, which beat as many as 80 to 90 times per second. And...

12.06.2025 20

Mother Jones

Benji Jones

You might accidentally be killing hummingbirds

Hummingbirds run on sugar. The fuel powers their tiny, furious bodies and super-fast wings, which beat as many as 80 to 90 times per second. And...

10.06.2025 80

Vox

Benji Jones

Hurricane season is here. NOAA is in shambles. What could go wrong?

Hurricane season in the Atlantic has officially begun.  And while this year will likely be less extreme than in 2024 — one of the most destructive...

03.06.2025 10

Vox

Benji Jones

Team Trump is Poised to Kill a Critical Program It Likely Knows Nothing About

This story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Nearly two decades ago,...

31.05.2025 7

Mother Jones

Benji Jones

Trump officials plan to destroy a critical government program they probably know nothing about

Nearly two decades ago, scientists made an alarming discovery in upstate New York: Bats, the world’s only flying mammal, were becoming infected with...

29.05.2025 30

Vox

Benji Jones

An extreme ocean heat wave did something remarkable to these fish

During a severe heat wave in 2023, scientists scuba diving off the coast of Papua New Guinea captured clownfish to measure their bodies. Between...

23.05.2025 4

Vox

Benji Jones

This chart of the planet’s forests should frighten you

In 2021, more than 140 countries around the world promised to put an end to deforestation by the end of the decade. Those countries — including...

21.05.2025 30

Vox

Benji Jones

El inesperado programa que salva a los jaguares de la extinción

Click here to read this story in English. SONORA, México — Este paisaje no parecía ser un lugar donde encontrar jaguares, el felino de la selva...

20.05.2025 4

Vox

Benji Jones

The unlikely program saving jaguars from extinction

Haga clic aquí para leer esta historia en español. SONORA, Mexico — This landscape didn’t seem like a place to find jaguars, the world’s most...

20.05.2025 2

Vox

Benji Jones

Trump officials are trying to yank this animal’s last shot at survival

The bird above is not your typical charismatic species. It’s no bald eagle, no peregrine falcon.  It’s a groundbird known as the lesser...

15.05.2025 10

Vox

Benji Jones

How does this bird know how to sew?

Vox reader Stefanos Nasiopoulos asks: How do instincts work in animals? Do they use the same mechanism as memories? How are they different from...

09.05.2025 4

Vox

Benji Jones

Where billions of cicadas are about to emerge, in one map

Oh, to be a cicada.  For the last 17 years, a group of cicadas known as Brood XIV has been buried several inches underground, doing very little. This...

06.05.2025 10

Vox

Benji Jones

Trump May Loathe Wind Energy, But This Red State Loves It

This story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. If you drive across Iowa,...

24.04.2025 2

Mother Jones

Benji Jones

Trump hates wind energy. Here, his supporters love it.

If you drive across Iowa, you’ll probably notice two things aside from the many farms: Trump signs and wind turbines. Iowa is Trump country. While...

22.04.2025 9

Vox

Benji Jones

Why Australia is shooting koalas out of trees from helicopters

The koala is a national icon of Australia. And in some parts of the country, these marsupials — known for their fluffy ears, adorable clingy babies,...

18.04.2025 2

Vox

Benji Jones

The fate of this beloved American creature is in Trump’s hands

In late 2021, I stood in a forest about two hours from Mexico City and watched as a river of butterflies passed overhead. They were monarchs — the...

17.04.2025 8

Vox

Benji Jones

Oops, we accidentally drugged the world’s fish

For those of us with anxiety (hello!), the class of prescription drugs known as benzodiazepines, or benzos, can be a boon in times of crisis. Though...

10.04.2025 4

Vox

Benji Jones

The Extraordinary Reason Why Scientists Are Collecting Sea Turtle Tears

This story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Each year, in late spring and...

05.04.2025 8

Mother Jones

Benji Jones

The extraordinary reason why scientists are collecting sea turtle tears

Each year, in late spring and early summer, female sea turtles will crawl out of the ocean under moonlight to lay their eggs in the sand, often...

01.04.2025 30

Vox

Benji Jones

A marine biologist discovered something incredible in a beer bottle on the seafloor

This story was produced in collaboration with The Dodo. One morning this week, Hanna Koch was snorkeling in the Florida Keys when she came across a...

28.03.2025 4

Vox

Benji Jones

We got rid of acid rain. Now something scarier is falling from the sky.

In the 1970s, acid rain was one of the most serious environmental threats in North America and Europe. The air was so laden with pollution from coal...

10.03.2025 9

Vox

Benji Jones

These Unique Black-Footed Ferrets Are on the Edge of Extinction. Trump’s Cuts May Well Do Them in.

This story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In the open grasslands of South...

28.02.2025 10

Mother Jones

Benji Jones

This animal is on the edge of extinction. Trump just fired the people trying to save it.

In the open grasslands of South Dakota, not far from the dramatic rock formations of Badlands National Park, lives one of the continent’s cutest,...

27.02.2025 100

Vox

Benji Jones

Trump’s job cuts at this overlooked agency put every American at risk

President Donald Trump says he wants the US to have the cleanest air and water on the planet — a desire, unsurprisingly, shared by all...

21.02.2025 90

Vox

Benji Jones

The crisis coming for our national parks, explained in two charts

America’s beloved national parks face a problem that could, in a matter of weeks, grow into a full-blown crisis.  The number of people visiting...

19.02.2025 10

Vox

Benji Jones

US Fish and Wildlife Service Has Halted Critical Conservation Funding

This story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The US Fish and Wildlife Service,...

19.02.2025 20

Mother Jones

Benji Jones

The Tiny Texas Reptile Testing the “Drill, Baby, Drill” Agenda

This story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. While President Donald Trump has...

16.02.2025 8

Mother Jones

Benji Jones

Leaked emails show the nation’s leading wildlife agency has halted critical funding for conservation

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, the nation’s only government agency dedicated to conserving plants and animals, has frozen its vast portfolio of...

15.02.2025 80

Vox

Benji Jones

The tiny lizard that will test Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda

While President Donald Trump has caused chaos and confusion in his first few weeks in office, he’s made one thing very clear: His administration...

10.02.2025 4

Vox

Benji Jones

The far right is going … green?

“In my view, climate change is real and it is an existential threat.”  “My inclination is to take dams down.” “The toxic chemicals that...

04.02.2025 3

Vox

Benji Jones

Florida’s iconic corals aren’t having babies anymore. Scientists are alarmed.

Once a year, typically after sunset in the late summer, the coral baby-making process begins. Large colonies of coral spawn, spewing out sperm and...

04.02.2025 10

Vox

Benji Jones