Have you ever seen Roundup at your local department store?

Roundup is a product manufactured by a company called Monsanto, and it is used by farmers and gardeners to kill weeds and keep their crops clean.

Over the past few years, Monsanto has been involved with a lawsuit against Edwin Hardeman, a man who claimed that Roundup partially caused him to have cancer.

On Wednesday, March 17th, Monsanto was ordered by the federal court to pay $80 million to Hardeman because it did not warn users of Roundup’s harmful effects and caused Hardeman to have cancer.

Californians are suspended in wonder as a surreal horde of painted lady butterflies flitter across the state.

Known for their strikingly patterned orange wings, these 2-3 inch butterflies are now migrating from the deserts along the Mexican border to the Pacific Northwest, passing over Southern California as they go, numbering in the millions.

The only other migration with such epic proportions was in 2005 when the butterfly population shot up to about 1 billion. 

An Unusual Migration

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about lab-grown meat as the next big environmental solution.

However, a recent study from Oxford Martin School claims that lab-grown meat may potentially be worse for the environment than traditional meat produced from animals.

Why Lab-grown Meat?

Agriculture is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. Of that, a large portion is methane and nitrous oxide emissions from cattle that are raised for human consumption.

The Great Blue Hole, located in Belize, is one of the most mysterious and beautiful creations of Mother Earth. It is the world’s largest sinkhole at 124 meters deep and 318 meters across.

A recent expedition into the Great Blue Hole has unraveled some of its secrets. Fabien Cousteau was one of the crew members of the expedition. He is the grandson of the famous French filmmaker and underwater explorer, Jacques Cousteau, who made the Great Blue Hole famous by bringing his ship, the Calypso, to the breathtaking sinkhole in 1971.

If regular bees weren’t terrifying enough, a giant one was recently rediscovered on the islands of North Moluccas, Indonesia by nature photographer Clay Bolt and his team.

Thought to be extinct for 38 years, this fearsome insect is almost three times the size of the typical honeybee and has a pair of striking mandibles not unlike those of a beetle.

The giant bee, which can grow up to 1.5 inches and has a wingspan of 2.5, was first discovered in 1858 by young explorer Alfred Russel Wallace, who gave the bee its name—Wallace’s giant bee (Megachile pluto).

Imagine a world in which the entire insect population was simply gone.

According to a recent global review of scientific studies called Biological Conservation, 40% of insect species are at risk of becoming extinct in the next few decades.

In fact, 80% of the total population mass of insects has already disappeared in the past 30 years.

The study urges communities to work together on habitat restoration, decrease the use of agricultural chemicals, and redesign the agriculture system to be more hospitable for native insects.

Did you know that the lowest recorded temperature in the world, of -133.6 degrees Fahrenheit, was in Antarctica? Did you also know that, even in Antarctica, glacial ice is melting?

The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is rapidly melting, and scientists want to know how and why. Nearly 14 billion tons of ice have melted in the past three years, which has resulted in a 4% rise in our sea levels.

Imagine living in Antarctica 250 million years ago. Reptiles would roam around, prowling lush forests and rivers.

Navigating through the thick greenery, the ruling reptile would stand by a river. It’s not the fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex. It’s the Antarctic King.

Recently, paleontologists discovered the fossils of a reptile, dubbed the “Antarctic King,” (Antarctanax Shackletoni). This discovery gave paleontologists the opportunity to discuss what life was like in Antarctica millions of years ago.

The Antarctic King

Do you wish that sometimes, you could shut out the world and curl up into a ball? Guess what. Pangolins actually do that and let their tough body armor turn away predators.

Unfortunately, that’s no defense against human poachers. Pangolins are believed to be the world’s most trafficked (hunted and traded) mammal – for their meat and bony scales. 

Did you know that there are 124 known species of coffee trees in the world?

However, the coffee that we drink is cultivated from only two! They are Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora, more commonly known as Arabica and Robusta. About 70% of the coffee produced globally is Arabica.

According to a recent study, almost 60% of wild coffee species are at risk of extinction. Wild coffee refers to species that grow on their own and are not cultivated for human consumption.