Molly Glick

4 days ago | nautil.us | Molly Glick

As the Siberian permafrost melts, it’s revealing an increasing number of millennia-old woolly mammoth tusks. These ancient tusks might be sating some of the global demand for ivory from endangered African elephants. But not enough. Between poaching and habitat loss, African elephant populations have plummeted in recent decades. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now .

6 days ago | nautil.us | Molly Glick

Today, the world will get its first glimpse at the cosmos through the eyes of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is perched atop Cerro Pachón, a nearly 9,000-foot peak in Chile. The Rubin Observatory is kicking off a decade-long “movie” shoot: With the world’s largest camera ever constructed and one of the most powerful telescopes, the observatory will capture vast swaths of the visible sky, providing a super-crisp, unprecedented “time-lapse” of the universe.

1 week ago | nautil.us | Molly Glick

In lush South American forests millions of years ago, trees and massive animals might have helped each other thrive. Trees evolved oversized fruits, which attracted hulking creatures such as mastodons during the Pleistocene epoch. Their menu might have included the bright yellow Chilean palm, the smoky chañar, and the creamy keule. In turn, these beasts may have shepherded seeds long distances via their dung, expanding the trees’ distribution and encouraging genetic diversity.

1 week ago | nautil.us | Molly Glick

For centuries, an odd form of iconography has maintained a stranglehold over the globe: the octopus map. Political cartoonists and mapmakers have long used the creature to illustrate a wide variety of forces threatening to throttle their foes: from empires, religious groups, and ideologies to financial systems—even abstract concepts such as the great unknown. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Take famed British satirist Fred W.

2 weeks ago | nautil.us | Molly Glick

Ailing coral reefs may have an unlikely chum: giant, jelly-like plankton called pyrosomes. Which turn out to be excellent fuel in the face of intensifying climate change. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Several years ago, researchers spotted blooms of a particular pyrosome cropping up along the northern coast of the country Timor-Leste in Southeast Asia.