Hey poachers, we're comin' for ya: From now on, any large seizures of ivory will undergo mandatory DNA forensic work, which could pinpoint where the poached animals once lived. Hey Discovery Channel, how about CSI: Cameroon? Nature, BBC
Hogwash: By now you’ve all heard about the 7,000-plus rotting pig carcasses floating gently down a river into Shanghai. But could this macabre piggy parade actually signal that Chinese health regulations are working well? Chinese authorities are cracking down on people selling diseased or dead pigs, so chucking them in the river instead of facing the authorities might not be a terrible idea, after all. Hmmm, y'know things are bad when dead swine is the new measure of food safety clout. Now, about that water safety ... New York Times, Mother Jones
Freaky fractures: Spring melting season hasn’t even started, but scientists are already spotting large fractures in Arctic sea ice off the northern coasts of Alaska and Canada. Thinner sea ice fractures more quickly and, you guessed it, melts faster. Researchers expect this year's melting season to be a doozie (y'know like last year's, and the year before that...) Climate Central
Shell-shocked: Baby sea turtles have it rough. They have to break free from their buried eggs, tunnel through the sand to the surface, avoid predators on their way to the water, avoid predators in the water, and then migrate to relative safety. And now the little hatchlings can add industrial toxins and pesticides to their list of woes. Environmental Health News
Sinister sofas: Last month we reported on a new California standard that will remove toxic flame retardants from furniture across the country. Those regulations have ignited a national debate on how many carcinogens are allowed to be in your couch. Bills banning the chemicals are circulating in several states, but manufacturers might have to raise prices if different standards pass in each of them. On the one hand, wouldn't you pay extra for couches without chemicals linked to obesity, infertility, and cancer? On the other hand, maybe the states should just do as California is doing and get the stuff out of our sofas altogether? San Francisco Chronicle
All a-flutter: Monarch butterflies migrate each year to a single forest in Mexico, but this winter the population is at the lowest level in at least two decades. The severe drought has taken its toll on the insects, but so have genetically modified crops. The butterflies used to feed off of milkweed flowers growing in-between rows of corn and soy, but the herbicides used on these super-tolerant crops are eliminating patches of the butterflies' favorite weeds. New York Times
Secret recipes: U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is on his way out of office, but he’s not leaving without giving us a hint of what’s to come. He’s confident that Obama will keep pushing oil drilling and fracking, and that the latter can be done safely -- albeit with stricter regulations for fracking on public lands. For one, Salazar thinks companies should be required do disclose their proprietary blends of fracking fluids. Disclose the chemicals that you pump into the earth near groundwater supplies? Now there’s an idea! FuelFix
Streaking the field: First a condor attacks a hockey team (because the most natural place for a condor to be is an indoor ice rink). And now, a wild pine marten disrupts a soccer match between Swiss teams FC Thun and Zurich, biting the player who eventually catches it. Yes, of course there's video -- and slo-mo instant replay! Grist
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