bioGraphic

Climate Journalism and COP30: From science to local solutions and fighting disinformation As the world prepares for COP30 in the Brazilian Amazon, climate change isn’t just a scientific or political issue; it’s a story that touches communities everywhere. How can journalists cut through…

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, in partnership with Amazônia Vox, is offering journalists a new free online course, “Climate Journalism and COP30: From Science to Local Solutions and Fighting Disinformation,” from October 13 to 26. buff.ly/HjocRW2

5/ Also, if you _are_ a conservationist or scientist who is caught in the middle and you are looking to talk to a team of experienced science journalists, please reach out.

Find me at cschultz@biographic, or if you want a more secure address: clnschltz@proton.me

4/ And for the writers: I'm am looking for one or two unique, insightful, evidence-based stories that you believe will fit the core theme: stories about ideas, solutions, and ways forward.

Stories should be place-based, people-centric, and grounded in sound science.

3/ We still have several months of work to do on the main feature, which means we have several months to develop extra elements for the package. So here is where I'm reaching out to you, dear readers:

What do you want to know? What questions do you have? What can I pay someone to find out for you?

2/ We intend to launch the story as a part of a package in February examining The Future of Conservation. It asks the question: Where do we go from here?

The package will contain several parts, exploring how we got here, and how global biodiversity efforts can move forward despite the odds.

1/ 🧪🍃🐙📰 We @biographic.bsky.social have been hard at work for the past 8 months developing a deep, rich, behind-the-scenes feature story exploring how the Trump Administration's cuts to international conservation are affecting biodiversity on the ground.

Glowing from Within - bioGraphic With more scientists and artists turning their attention to bioluminescence, new information about glowing fungi is coming to light.

🍄🧪🚨GLOW-IN-THE-DARK TREE SCIENCE🚨🧪🍄

Scientists have identified 125 species of bioluminescent fungi, and there are likely many more. One of the latest discoveries is a species that doesn't just glow on its own -- trees interlaced with its filaments also emit an ethereal greenish light (!!)

This is INCREDIBLE. The Bearded Vulture has multigenerational nests that last for hundreds of years, built in very secluded places — and they’re FULL OF ANTHROPOGENIC ARTIFACTS.

Also: the phrase hikari-matsu has been used in Japan since at least the 18th century to describe pine trees lit with luminous fungi

Glowing from Within - bioGraphic With more scientists and artists turning their attention to bioluminescence, new information about glowing fungi is coming to light.

🍄🧪🚨GLOW-IN-THE-DARK TREE SCIENCE🚨🧪🍄

Scientists have identified 125 species of bioluminescent fungi, and there are likely many more. One of the latest discoveries is a species that doesn't just glow on its own -- trees interlaced with its filaments also emit an ethereal greenish light (!!)

Shadow Fish The modern race to save an ancient and vanishing species.

The Alabama sturgeon is one of the rarest fish in North America. No one has seen one for nearly two decades. But environmental DNA shows that these ancient fish persist, propelling a tiny group of scientists to keep trying to find--and save--them. Read more:

Canis familiaris? Maybe Less Than You Think - bioGraphic We think of them as pets, but the vast majority of the world’s dogs live free-range in the environment. Understanding them could be key to helping urban wildlife thrive.

There are about 1 billion dogs on the planet - but most of them (80%!) are not pets. What can their success teach us about how animals adapt to human landscapes, and how to make our environments more welcoming to them. My story for @biographic.bsky.social 🧪
www.biographic.com/canis-famili...

We’re doing this work because we believe that informed and inspired people will build a better relationship with the natural world. And we intentionally produce bioGraphic for regular people—not just politicians or professors—because it’s regular people, everywhere, who push our societies to change.

Canis familiaris? Maybe Less Than You Think - bioGraphic We think of them as pets, but the vast majority of the world’s dogs live free-range in the environment. Understanding them could be key to helping urban wildlife thrive.

Canis familiaris? Maybe Less Than You Think

We think of them as pets, but the vast majority of the world’s dogs--80%--live free-range in the environment. Understanding them could be key to helping urban wildlife thrive.

by @scibri.com

www.biographic.com/canis-famili...

What are Fido's 800 million free-ranging cousins doing right now? 🤔🐕

If you're new to Bluesky and are looking for folks to follow, don't miss our ever-updating starter pack of bioGraphic contributors!

go.bsky.app/KbjGfSQ

Congratulations Christian!

You're very welcome!

Listen to Jane Goodall’s final — and urgent — message Her final interviews are essential listening for everyone.

Jane Goodall, one of the most influential environmental figures in human history, has died at 91 while touring the country to deliver an urgent message about nature and human existence.

“We’re destroying the planet,” she said last week during the Forbes Sustainability Leaders Summit in NYC.

Honored to have made it into this always fantastic anthology as a "Notable" for my piece in Hakai Magazine (one of the last features the magazine published) about cold-water coral research in Chile. @pulitzercenter.org @biographic.bsky.social

An elderly black dog lies on a polkadot blanket on my office floor

Also, a photo of my coworker for the dog tax:

The unfulfilled potential of dogs in studying behavioural ecology and evolution during the Anthropocene Dogs have the potential to be an exceptional resource for studying ecological, behavioural and evolutionary processes. However, several widespread mis…

And if you want to dig even deeper, check out the scientific paper that inspired this story:

The unfulfilled potential of dogs in studying behavioural ecology and evolution during the Anthropocene

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Canis familiaris? Maybe Less Than You Think - bioGraphic We think of them as pets, but the vast majority of the world’s dogs live free-range in the environment. Understanding them could be key to helping urban wildlife thrive.

Read about how free-ranging dogs could help us learn how animals adapt to urban environments in:

Canis familiaris? Maybe Less Than You Think

www.biographic.com/canis-famili...

Yet as the pair of scientists argue in a recent paper, paying closer attention to our furry neighbors would be a good model for looking at how species adapt to climate and anthropogenic change. “But nobody is really doing that,” Hansen Wheat says.

Mainstream ecology has largely shied away from learning what the world's roughly 800,000,000 free-ranging dogs have to teach us, adds @liu.se's Christina Hansen Wheat.

“There’s a bit of a feeling that because they are a domestic species they’re somehow inferior, or not a proper species to study.”

The scientific study of dogs has been growing in recent decades, but @arizonastateuni.bsky.social ethologist Clive Wynne says most of it is explicitly anthropomorphic—focusing on the cognitive adaptations that make dogs more human-like. And these studies are performed almost exclusively on pet dogs

Canis familiaris? Maybe Less Than You Think - bioGraphic We think of them as pets, but the vast majority of the world’s dogs live free-range in the environment. Understanding them could be key to helping urban wildlife thrive.

Canis familiaris? Maybe Less Than You Think

We think of them as pets, but the vast majority of the world’s dogs--80%--live free-range in the environment. Understanding them could be key to helping urban wildlife thrive.

by @scibri.com

www.biographic.com/canis-famili...

Is there such a thing as a ‘problem shark’? Plan to catch repeat biters divides scientists Some experts think a few sharks may be responsible for a disproportionate number of attacks. Should they be hunted down?

Is there such a thing as a ‘problem shark’? Plan to catch repeat biters divides scientists

I'm thrilled to see @chrisbaraniuk.com's excellent piece shared with the much bigger audience over in The Guardian www.theguardian.com/environment/...

It’s Time for Nature’s Fire Brigade - bioGraphic When it comes to restoring land and preventing wildfires, some animals—like pangolins—have a lot to offer. Can helping them help us?

Wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe. Preventing them from getting worse will require cutting carbon emissions and righting centuries of flawed land management. But animals can help make our increasingly scorched planet more resilient—if we let them. www.biographic.com/its-time-for...

It’s Time for Nature’s Fire Brigade - bioGraphic When it comes to restoring land and preventing wildfires, some animals—like pangolins—have a lot to offer. Can helping them help us?

Wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe. Preventing them from getting worse will require cutting carbon emissions and righting centuries of flawed land management. But animals can help make our increasingly scorched planet more resilient—if we let them. www.biographic.com/its-time-for...