The Incredible Journey: From San Francisco to Anchorage

On the road again.  A taste of it here.

"Icelanders Grieve for the Peculiar Lake Balls"

You know you just have to click on a headline like that.

Dirty Jobs: Soil Contamination in China

Not good.  The report says 20%.  Seems kind of a low figure, actually.

I Would Totally Hug This Tree

I make fun of treehuggers all the time, but this is no ordinary tree.  Save this gorgeous albino redwood, only one of less than a dozen of its kind!  IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE!

Awesomeness: the Seasons From Space

Look at these gorgeous animated gifs!

Monday Therapy: At Least You're Not This Guy

Mondays are awful, aren't they?  Take comfort in knowing that it could always be worse:

A fisherman who lost a two-pound chunk of his leg to a shark says the ordeal is only his latest encounter with the natural world - after being hit by lightning, bitten by a rattlesnake and punched by monkeys. 

Given all that, a bad commute doesn't sound THAT bad, does it?

America the Beautiful

Look at the gorgeous photos from the Department of the Interior's Instagram account!

Under the Sea: Gorgeous Photo Contest Winners

Just look at the world around you right here on the ocean floor!

Greening the Deserts with Carbon Dioxide

Well, whaddyaknow?  Look at this from the American Geophysical Union:

Scientists have long suspected that a flourishing of green foliage around the globe, observed since the early 1980s in satellite data, springs at least in part from the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere. Now, a study of arid regions around the globe finds that a carbon dioxide “fertilization effect” has, indeed, caused a gradual greening from 1982 to 2010.

I now expect professionally apocalyptic eco-zealots to complain that greening the desert will lead to the extinction of the sand worms or something.  The Spice global warming gravy train must flow!

Say Cheese: The 25th Annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest!

Spectacular!  I think my favorite is the little fennec fox in Morocco, along with the cheetah running to catch up with his companions ("Wait for meeeeeeeee!").

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

As it turns out, so do humpback whales.

Photography Via Paraglider

Absolutely gorgeous.

Happy Valentine's Day, Superb Bird-of-Paradise Style

Is that a shape-shifting feather display adaptation, or are you just happy to see me?

Hey Girl.
 

Say Cheese!: the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

Take a look at the gorgeous photos chosen for the open-competition shortlist.  Want more?  Check out the professional shortlist.  Things like this makes me wonder what would have happened if I had chosen a different career path - I've always loved photography.  Yeah, yeah, I know, Asians, cameras, blah blah blah.

Quote of the Day: Greenie Hysteria

Heh:

... the habit of reading every warm spike and every storm as fresh confirmation of the coming apocalypse needs to stop. It’s bad science and it’s bad politics. Green hysteria is more likely to paralyze us then help us take the kind of steps we need to take towards sustainability. 

The gravest danger to Earth these days isn’t climate skepticism; it’s the broken, Malthusian and statist green policy imagination. Wedded to grandiose and unworkable “solutions”, greens feel they must push the panic button at every opportunity to stampede the world into embracing an unworkable and unsustainable policy agenda.

Well, I don't feel the urge to panic and adopt a Stone Age lifestyle if the New York Times is shutting down its environment desk and if Al Gore, that blowhard high priest of the Green religion, feels it's OK to sell out to Al Jazeera for a sweet, sweet personal profit of $100 million.  

Awesome: Dolphin Stampede

Take a look at this glorious scene off the coast of southern California:

100 Astonishing Photos of 2012

Amazing snaps.

Meet the Rare New Guinea Singing Dog

Good boy!

Gorgeous Photos from NatGeo's Annual Competition

Look at these lovely photos submitted by some of the world's best shutterbugs.

Book Review: "Eating Aliens" by Jackson Landers

Hey, this is right up the Insta-Prof's alley: the suggestion that we get rid of invasive animal species by hunting and literally eating them out of existence. Take a look at this nice review of a book by a guy who did just that.