5 h. ago Filthy farms and markets are ticking time bombs for new deadly viruses that can jump from animals to humans

Health experts have warned that the fur trade should be banned, calling it a ticking time bomb

Events

14 h. ago World's worst 'pandemic breeding grounds' as depraved animal markets spark virus fears

Experts have warned that filthy farms and markets packed full of sick, distressed animals around the world are potential breeding grounds for deadly new viruses that can jump from animals to humans

Events

17 h. ago What is zoonosis? Worrying new disease development explained

Officials have warned that the massive global animal trade could cause more potentially deadly diseases already circulating amongst animals to jump to humans and trigger pandemics

Politics

21 h. ago Health experts warn fur trade and factory farms could spark new pandemics

Some of the world's leading health experts have warned that to prevent future pandemics the fur trade should end - calling it a ticking time bomb.

Events

23 h. ago Health experts call for ban to prevent pandemics after first

Zoonotic diseases have been on the rise in recent years with Covid-19, Ebola, Zika and HIV all believed to have jumped to humans from animals

Events

9 d. ago AI promises to free up time. But what if it spares us from learning, writing, painting and exploring the world? | Joseph Earp

If I reduced my existence to a series of ChatGPT prompts, the act of my living is only shorter – not betterAs much as I have the general vibe of a luddite (strange hobbies, socially maladjusted, unfathomable fashion choices, etc) I have to hand it to automation: it’s nice that computers have made some boring things in our lives less boring.I side with the writer and philosopher John Gray, who in his terrifying work of eco-nihilism Straw Dogs balances the fact that human beings are a plague animal who are wrecking the biosphere that supports them with the idea that we have made our lives easier through technology. Gray, in particular, calls anesthetised dentistry an “unmixed blessing”. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Investigation underway after 'remains' found in Greater Manchester park

It's not known whether they are human or animal

Events

1 week ago Chinese researchers report a pig kidney transplant and a first

Chinese researchers are reporting new steps in the quest for animal-to-human organ transplants

Science

1 week ago Director Marco Berger: ‘My films make some masculine viewers question if they could be gay’

The Argentinian film-maker, whose movies blur the lines between gay and straight, discusses what inspired him to make his latest work – queer romcom The Astronaut LoversMarco Berger’s films often begin, in one way or another, with a knock on the door. A young gay man steps into a summer house, or sometimes a luxury villa, typically inhabited by a group of attractive young men on holiday. As homoerotic tension simmers, the hyper-masculine environment is charged with banter, dares, and provocative games. The Argentinian director’s films test the fragile boundaries of homosocial spaces, blurring the lines between gay and straight as characters navigate complex emotions. His settings become pressure cookers – or at times, ticking time bombs – of unspoken dynamics, male bonding, and the perils of repressed desire.It’s these elements – heightened by homoerotic scenes and prolonged shots of the male body – that have made Berger one of the most prolific and successful film-makers in Latin A...

Politics

1 week ago Researchers may finally be able to forecast dangerous red algae blooms

Red tides can lead to millions of dollars in losses, kill animals and be harmful to human health

Technology

2 w. ago The sea is turning red! Researchers make breakthrough discovery that could help forecast dangerous algae blooms

Red tides can lead to millions of dollars in losses, kill animals and be harmful to human health

Technology

2 w. ago Scientists identify ‘tipping point’ that caused clumps of toxic Florida seaweed

Giant blobs along 5,000-mile-wide sargassum belt has killed animals, harmed human health and discouraged tourismScientists in Florida believe they have identified a “tipping point” in atmospheric conditions in the Atlantic Ocean they say caused giant clumps of toxic seaweed to inundate beaches around the Caribbean in recent summers.Previous theories for the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt that has killed marine animals, harmed human health and plagued the tourism industry in several countries include a surfeit of nutrients in the water, such as nitrogen and phosphorus in runoff from intensive farming and carried into the ocean in the Congo, Amazon and Mississippi rivers. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago ‘Like kidnapping your grandpa’: why relocating orangutans threatens their survival

The endangered great apes of Malaysia and Indonesia struggle when translocated despite efforts to protect them, finds researchWhen authorities were called about reports of an orangutan in an Indonesian village, they arrived to find it bound with ropes by concerned local people. Worried about the animal’s proximity to humans, plans for translocation were made: removing it to an undisturbed forest habitat, far from human settlements, where it could peacefully live in the treetops. But when they finally identified the 20-year-old male, they found it had been relocated before, but, instead of settling in the new site it had travelled about 130km (80miles) away.Researchers are starting to realise that many great apes struggle when they are moved far from their homes, despite well-intentioned efforts to protect them. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago I’m obsessed with cave diving. This is the closest environment we have to space

Some of the caves I dive in are hundreds of thousands of years old and the marine life is unique. But they can be very dangerous placesCave diving is like swimming through the history of the planet. There are remains of both humans and animals but also stalactites and stalagmites. These cannot form when the cave is flooded, so you can see when parts of it were submerged and when it was dry.Yet when I’m in a cave, time does not tick. There is no natural light, so the cave looks the same, whether it’s midday or midnight. If you cave dive without the right training, equipment and mindset, it can be a very dangerous place. I have a very meditative focus when I’m down there. I live in the now. I cannot think about anything else but what is happening in the cave. I find that very soothing and relaxing. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Twisted ghoul who sold 'wet' bodies of stillborn puppies and kittens breaks her silence as she learns her fate over bid to flog HUMAN TOES online

A former animal shelter worker who attempted to sell human toes coughed up by the dog of a dead man has defended her outrageous behavior. 

Events

3 w. ago Inside the gruesome house of horrors where twisted woman hoped to sell human body parts online

A former animal shelter worker who attempted to sell human toes coughed-up by the dog of a dead man had been part of a ghoulish Facebook group focused on bodily remains. 

Events

4 w. ago Halt Disney! Flow’s director, and fellow upstart animators, on a new era for the artform

At the Academy Awards last weekend, a little Latvian film scooped the prize for best animation . Here its creator Gints Zilbalodis, and other Oscar nominees of micro-budget films, discuss taking risks and challenging the big studiosFlow is a gorgeous animated Noah’s Ark tale-of-sorts that bobs into cinemas like a message in a bottle. The brainchild of Gints Zilbalodis, a 30-year-old Latvian film-maker, it’s about an unnamed house cat cast adrift on a sailboat alongside a capybara and a ring-tailed lemur. The world has flooded; one disaster follows another. The animals on the boat have to help one another or die. Flow contains no human life and not one line of actual dialogue. Despite this, it is eloquent and humane and almost unbearably tense.Animators, says Zilbalodis, are a little like cats, in that they tend to be self-sufficient, antisocial and have to be coaxed into joining a team. Flow’s production involved Zilbalodis abandoning his desk to oversee a small crew of artists. He ...

Politics