Older than dirt?: For ages, the official line on the Grand Canyon has been that it's relatively young: about 6 million years old. But a new study says that's off by a factor of 10 -- and that the canyon's age is closer to 70 million years. There are plenty of scientists (and um, creationists...) offering objections to this interpretation. The easiest way to understand how the estimates vary so much is to think of the proposed 70 million-year-old canyon as a different, precursor geologic feature: still gigantic, in almost the exact same spot, but different. Washington Post
We're meeeeellllting: Scientists have also been trying to pinpoint exactly what's happening with the world's ice sheets, and now one project, which included dozens of scientists and extensive satellite research, may have the answer. According to this research, over the past two decades Greenland and Antarctica have definitely been melting, enough to raise sea levels about half an inch. That may not sound like much, but there's no telling how much faster they might melt in the future. NPR
Conservation trophies: Botswana, which is home to lions, giraffes, and a substantial proportion of the world's elephants, is going to ban all commercial game hunting within the next two years. BBC
Wet n' Wild: And in California, at Point Reyes National Seashore, the U.S. government is creating the country's first marine wilderness outside of Alaska. Congress first thought of turning the area into a wilderness, where human activities are restricted, more than 40 years ago, but decided to wait until an oyster farm's permit ran its course. Los Angeles Times
Biodiversity desert: This series of pictures shows just how few types of living things make their home in monoculture cornfields. In one cubic foot of land in Cape Town, South Africa, for instance, you might find 30 plants and 70 insects over the course of an hour. Over three days in a cornfield, however, you'd find 6 insects, 1 tiny mushroom, and lots and lots and lots of corn. NPR
City life: In cities, however, all sorts of wildlife species make their home. And just like city-dwelling people, plants and animals that live in distant cities may have more in common with each other than those in the more rural areas that surround them. New York Times
Death (and taxes) = certainty: Did you read that story about the immortal jellyfish yet? Don't take the bits about what the species might hold for human health seriously: there are loads of scientific reasons to doubt the article's entire premise (see "Forever Young"). MIT
President Darter: Biologists have named five species of bright orange-and-blue fish after four eco-friendly presidents and Al Gore. The Etheostoma jimmycarter lives in Kentucky and Tennessee, right near the Etheostoma gore, and the Etheomstoma clinton lives in Arkansas, of course. Etheomstoma obama isn't from Hawaii but we're not asking for its birth certificate -- same goes for Etheomstoma TeddyRoosevelt. Buzzfeed
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