Explore the World with Pam and Rex

01/03/2024

There are 1,700 plants and animals listed as endangered or threatened with extinction, and in the aggregate those species get $1.2 billion spent toward their preservation. That top-line number, however, really obscures the reality with the funding situation, as half of that money goes to two fish, salmon and steelhead trout, and of the remaining balance the funding tends to be diverted toward more charismatic endangered species like manatees, grizzly bears and spotted owls. The animal with a budget line that got the least amount of money was the Virginia fringed mountain snail, which had $100 thrown its way toward preservation, but that’s still more than can be said for about 200 plants and animals for which no money at all was spent. All told, 67 percent of spending on endangered species goes toward fish, with 7 percent going to mammals and just 5 percent to birds.

-Matthew Brown and John Flesher, The Associated Press

10/26/2022

A creepy form of parasitism is one of evolution's favorite strategies, and scientists are starting to figure out how it works.

10/19/2022

A past global staple you've never heard of, maslins are poised for a comeback.

09/29/2022

They may be available year-round, but this is the season to celebrate them.

09/04/2022

NASA and MIT have made a box that converts the carbon-dioxide on Mars into breathable oxygen — a crucial advance if humans want to explore the planet one day.

09/04/2022

As the planet warms, these five drought-tolerant and highly nutritious crops offer hope for greater resiliency

08/20/2022

Upgrade your punch game with a 400-year-old science trick.

08/11/2022

Transforming PhDs into pastries.

07/08/2022

Searching for the precious trees has become Reagan Wytsalucy's calling.

07/05/2022

Please do not hurt me or my mom.

We just temporarily moved to the neighborhood so we could be safe.

If you have suddenly seen a fox in the yard near your home, there is a good reason for this.

It is denning season. Between the end of March and early April, a mother fox will give birth to between 4 and 5 kits (a baby fox is called a kit).

A coyote will often find a fox den, dig out the babies, and kill them.

A mother fox knows this and will frequently choose a den site close to people, away from where coyotes generally go.

A fox will often den under a porch, shed, garage, barn, or side of a hill, trying to keep her little family safe.

Please offer them a short-term rental because this is not a permanent situation.

If you are lucky enough to see how beautiful an adult fox is, or witness the kits playing (at a distance of course), you will be glad you did!

It is not uncommon for Red Foxes to change dens several times during the season, so you may not see them for long.

Kits are slow to develop and will not leave the den until they are about a month old. Foxes do not live in a den year-round, only when a mother has babies.
During the summer as the kits grow older, you will see less and less of them, and by September everyone will have packed up and moved on. Please do not call a service to “relocate them”, they will often be killed.

If you see a fox during the day, it does not mean she is rabid. A mother fox works tirelessly to feed her kits and will often be out during daylight hours foraging for food.

Foxes are omnivores, generally feeding on berries, grasses, and small rodents. They are solitary and prefer to be left alone.

They do not want to hunt and eat your children, mate with your dog, or kill your cat.

A fox just wants a place to raise her family safely, please allow her to do that.

Credit Nicole Blanchard

04/13/2022

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/unusual-fruit-trees-governors-island?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5b9bd16918-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_04_13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-5b9bd16918-63210137&mc_cid=5b9bd16918&mc_eid=4b07dcefd4

The project will rescue forgotten peaches, plums, and apricots.

02/17/2022

According to folklore, Vermont's slanted windows were installed to keep witches from flying into the house.

02/14/2022

Ever dreamed having a peanut butter fruit tree in your garden?

01/26/2022

01/11/2022

They’ve just been sitting in the dining room all this time.

01/07/2022

How does an island with no lakes, rivers, or streams provide water for 65,000 people? Look up.

01/05/2022

Houses and other buildings that rise and fall with water levels are becoming more common in Dutch cities.

01/03/2022

"Franz Kafka, the story goes, encountered a little girl in the park where he went walking daily. She was crying. She had lost her doll and was desolate.
Kafka offered to help her look for the doll and arranged to meet her the next day at the same spot. Unable to find the doll he composed a letter from the doll and read it to her when they met.
'Please do not mourn me, I have gone on a trip to see the world. I will write you of my adventures.' This was the beginning of many letters. When he and the little girl met he read her from these carefully composed letters the imagined adventures of the beloved doll. The little girl was comforted.
When the meetings came to an end Kafka presented her with a doll. She obviously looked different from the original doll. An attached letter explained: 'my travels have changed me... '
Many years later, the now grown girl found a letter stuffed into an unnoticed crevice in the cherished replacement doll. In summary it said: 'every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.'"
—Kafka & the Doll: The Pervasiveness of Loss, May Benatar

01/01/2022

This Roman mosaic discovered at Antakya, Turkey, was so well made it preserved the wave of an earthquake without breaking the pattern.

11/19/2021

This 880-acre facility is home to a massive collection of vintage motorcycles and cars, as well as a 2.38-mile race course.

10/11/2021

This monument claims to display the first pot used to cook a famed Southern stew.

08/17/2021

Bochet vanished for centuries, but meadmakers are bringing it back—at least in spirit.

07/30/2021

Ye Olde Astronaut

The Cathedral of Salamanca has a number of unusual carvings but none so surprising as a modern astronaut.

07/23/2021

Yummm

Some Bretons claim that the kouign-amann is the fattiest pastry in the world.

07/23/2021

Burj Al Babas may one day be full of wealthy vacationers, but for now it's a strange sight.

07/17/2021

The cruise will take passengers on a trip lasting 132 nights. Prices range up to $199,999. The strong interest may be a positive sign for the cruise industry as it tries to rebound from the pandemic.

07/05/2021

The largest accumulation of gold in human history is located deep underneath the heart of Manhattan’s financial district, at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Some 80 feet beneath sidewalk level, the Fed’s special vault is built into the bedrock and entrusted with deposits from central banks across the globe. Inside sits 7,000 tons of glittering gold bars—around 5 percent of all of the gold ever mined.

The New York Fed has quite the gold vault.