The Xerces blue, long gone from San Francisco, became a symbol of the fight against extinctions. Now scientists are sending in a replacement to the dunes of the Presidio. Will it take?
We Urgently Need More Information about Spiders, as Climate Change Means New Risks for Them
Climate change seems like a critical threat to spiders. But researchers are hampered by a lack of basic information.
Scientists Resurface a One-of-a-Kind, 50-Year-Old Record of San Francisco Bay Life
There used to be a pattern to species distribution in the Bay. Is there still?
Four Gray Whales Found Dead in the Bay Area as Mysterious Die-off Continues
April is the peak month for gray whales passing by the San Francisco Bay Area, drawing spectators to the coast to scan the ocean’s surface for a heart-shaped spout or the flick of a gray-speckled tail. But while the abundance … Read more
Pandemic Forces Closures, Job Cuts, Shifted Science for Bay Area Conservation Groups
As closures and financial losses mount, Bay Area organizations have cut back on staff or science.
A Whale’s Death Shows Us the Way Marine Giants Live
“When a whale washes up it’s kind of like being a doctor on call,” says Moe Flannery, senior collections manager at the California Academy of Sciences. Flannery’s day job means caring for more than 140,000 bird and mammal specimens at … Read more
Our Global Effort to Find Nature and Community In a Time of Shelter-in-Place
The City Nature Challenge has gone hyperlocal and non-competitive. That doesn’t mean giving up our goals.
An Update to the App to Identify (Almost) Anything (Almost) Anywhere
If you ever wander around wanting to know the names of plants and animals around you, Seek, a newly rebuilt app from the iNaturalist team at the California Academy of Sciences, now offers instant identifications through the camera view on … Read more
How to See Insects
Fascinating creatures, miniature works of art, critical links in the web of life — bugs are so much more than pests.
The Importance of Having Insects
A number of sensational new papers warn of a global insect die-off. Has the apocalypse arrived in Northern California?