http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/nature http://io9.com/tag/nature

Ladybugs are the one kind of bug you don't mind crawling on you. They're cute. They're pretty. And they swarm. They swarm by the tens of millions. I had a personal encounter with a smaller swarm when hiking. Find out about my brush with nature's most adorable fury. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5882826&view=rss&microfeed=true

One hundred years before the premiere of Fox's new timey-wimey TV series, one of the most punishing nature expeditions ever undertaken also went by the name of Terra Nova. The ill-fated Antarctic excursion was led by explorer Robert Falcon Scott, who was determined to lead the first successful adventure to the South Pole. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5874145&view=rss&microfeed=true

Residents of Venezuela have been treated to a light show that has been going on for thousands of years. One spot on the Catatumbo River gets, regularly, forty thousand bolts every night. The lightning has helped sailors navigate, foiled attacks on the nearby countryside, and is actually responsible for Venezuelan independence. Find out about the most zapped spot on earth. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5871791&view=rss&microfeed=true

Let this video be your moment of zen to round out the year. Watch as David Tennant narrates a group of flying Rays as they leap out of the Sea of Cortez and experience a quick moment of flight. This was captured for BBC One's Earthflight series. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5872124&view=rss&microfeed=true

This monkey is insanely cute and lovable — and endangered. This is a young golden snub-nosed monkey, high up in China's Qinling Mountains, keeping its extremities as warm as possible, while its mother isn't around. Poor lonely monkey. But that's not the most distressing of the year's best wildlife photos, from the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5851913&view=rss&microfeed=true

For years, scientists have marveled at the seafaring abilities of snails like Janthina janthina (pictured above), which produce a biological bubble-wrap that enables them to float just below the water's surface in oceans around the world. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5850750&view=rss&microfeed=true

Male Adelie penguins are some of the most conniving little creatures on the planet. And we let them get away with it. Why? Because they're freaking adorable, that's why. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5850645&view=rss&microfeed=true

If you're a fan of the Blue Planet and Planet Earth documentary series, then there's a good chance you've already heard about the forthcoming collaboration between the BBC and the Discovery Channel, Frozen Planet. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5845752&view=rss&microfeed=true

Feast your eyes on this otherworldly looking image of a moonset, captured for National Geographic by nature photographer Peter Essick (click on the top image for the wallpaper version). More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5844862&view=rss&microfeed=true

Leopard slug sex is wild by definition, insofar as it typically takes place in the wilderness. But as this video clearly demonstrates, "wild" doesn't even begin to capture the jaw-dropping escapade that is the leopard slug mating ritual. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5841523&view=rss&microfeed=true

Prepare to be blown away by the constantly shifting glory of nature. Photographer Henry Jun Wah Lee with Evosia Studios has collected two years worth of gorgeous moments in one four-minute time lapse video that takes our breath away. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5838549&view=rss&microfeed=true

Not only do male alligators use Faraday waves to get a mate, but they may also produce the only examples (biological or physical) of these kind of waves in nature. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5815338&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's wrong to lump all the ocean's jelly-like creatures into one category "jellyfish." So this video from the wonderful The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute breaks down all the glorious varieties of these magical sea beasts. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5807575&view=rss&microfeed=true

Realistically, you won't get eaten by a black bear. But if you do, it's likely to be young, male, and single. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5800265&view=rss&microfeed=true

Researchers have proven through genetic testing that a certain strain of leprosy can be transmitted between humans and armadillos. These armadillos are thought to be the source of many of the cases of leprosy in the United States. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5796080&view=rss&microfeed=true

This massive turtle, weighing 440 pounds, was pulled out of Hanoi's Ho Hoan Kiem, or Lake of the Returned Sword, by a few dozen people, including Special Forces soldiers, using three nets. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5788831&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Antikythera Mechanism is the world's oldest computer, calculating the stars 2000 years ago. Now modern engineers have come up with the only possible improvement...they've rebuilt it with Lego. But is this the best science video of them all? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5786095&view=rss&microfeed=true

Birds often run into objects that seem obvious to humans, like poles or wind turbines. In France, it's estimated that 25 percent of young storks die from running into power lines. Why does this happen, and what's the solution? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5782424&view=rss&microfeed=true

A Laysan albatross named Wisdom was first tagged for monitoring and identification back in 1956, and 55 years later she's the oldest known wild bird in the United States. Even more amazingly, she's still laying eggs and raising young. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5780304&view=rss&microfeed=true

National Geographic has just published an amazing series of photographs that chronicle the hidden lives of rare birds. This kakapo blends so perfectly with its environment that it's easy to see why they are so hard to find. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5778730&view=rss&microfeed=true

As a group, animals are disgusting. It's really a shame we're one of them. But while we only display mating behavior on specially requested internet videos or unused sections of libraries, they have sex in front of biologists. The biologists, of course, can't keep their mouths shut and tattle all the animals' dirty dealings to us on nature shows. The only way to get some of this stuff out of one's head is to pass it on, so here are the animal kingdoms' top ten bizarre mating behaviors. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5776098&view=rss&microfeed=true

As winter coats Japan, snow and rime ice cover the trees, creating armies of monsters and snow giants that loom over the landscape. And in some of these photos, they look ready to trudge to life. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5758351&view=rss&microfeed=true

This classic video of a cheetah hunting down gazelles is an edge-of-your-seat, intense story about the power that can be packed into a single tetrapod's body. And it even has an unexpected twist ending. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5739297&view=rss&microfeed=true

A woman in Florida spotted the world's first orange alligator, and helpfully took a picture. As far as biologists can tell, it's colored that way because it's 'half albino'. Check out the story at Tree Hugger. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5727909&view=rss&microfeed=true

The site of the worst nuclear accident in history is going to open for business as soon as next year. Take a hike around the facilities and check out the catfish in the cooling pond. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5714822&view=rss&microfeed=true

Human scientists are still trying to figure out how to turn cloaking devices into a reality, but the pint-sized Hawaiian bobtail squid long ago learned how to channel its inner Klingon. See its natural cloaking device in action inside. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5707426&view=rss&microfeed=true

Check out this image from the Liquid Vision Project, which shows a wave from a whole new angle, one that people aren't used to seeing from. This is just one of the blindingly gorgeous pictures in National Geographic's photo contest. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5698456&view=rss&microfeed=true

The heavens have certainly been punishing Chicago this week. Watch as three mighty bolts of lightning simultaneously attack three of the Windy City's tallest buildings. Clearly, Thor is a Flyers fan. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5573071&view=rss&microfeed=true

The reaction that makes fireflies luminescent has been understood for along time. How they switch themselves on and off, though, is a fairly recent discovery. Find out how fireflies light up, and how they blink off. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5565684&view=rss&microfeed=true

In the Oostvaardersplassen, a wildlife preserve in the Netherlands, the Pleistocene lives again. Herds of wild horses and cattle roam the region, just as they might have - along with woolly mammoths - 20 thousand years ago. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5556899&view=rss&microfeed=true

Photographer Cesare Naldi captured Rajan, a 60-year-old elephant, and his 58-year-old driver Nasru going for their morning swim off of Havelock Island in the Bay of Bengal. These photos won Naldi Viewers' Choice in National Geographic's 2009 International Photography competition. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5546929&view=rss&microfeed=true

Canada's mighty beavers have been keeping busy. This newly discovered beaver dam, in Alberta's Wood Buffalo National Park, is so big it can be seen from space. Check out some more pics of the 2,788-foot marvel. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5534872&view=rss&microfeed=true

Created by Cristóbal Vila, this video manages to explain how everything, from snails to flowers, is built according to predictable mathematical principles. Numbers have never been more sublime. [via Etérea Studios] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5502284&view=rss&microfeed=true

Need an antidote to those apocalyptic scenarios filled with gray skies and scorched earth? Josh Keyes' witty paintings depict a kinder, gentler post-apocalyptic world, where humans have simply vanished, giving fish, fowl, and the occasional bear some elbow room. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5427580&view=rss&microfeed=true

This geranium is having sex right now, before your very eyes. Those little grains of pollen clinging to the flower's stigma are competing to plunge their genetic material deep into this flower and reproduce. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5417705&view=rss&microfeed=true

Werewolves wearing armor, underground monsters, and Vampire Bill are running amuck in this week's Cult Worship. Plus three beautiful, fish filled and altogether brilliant little videos. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5399945&view=rss&microfeed=true

Climate change is caused in part by airborne particles that make clouds more or less reflective - thus raising or lowering temperatures on Earth. Now scientists say there are chemicals from trees that could turn cloud reflectiveness up to maximum. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5361099&view=rss&microfeed=true

See what a full sized blue whale would look like in person. Spreading the save the whales word, the WDCS wants you to look into the big black fist-sized eye, and stop bloody whaling. [WDCS] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5273674&view=rss&microfeed=true When you ask scientists to predict the future, they don't scrimp on the weirdness. A recent article in Nature included predictions from a number of researchers asked to speculate about how humans will reproduce in 30 years. Scott Gelfland of the Ethics Center at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater said he thought the development of artificial wombs might be a boon to the religious right. He imagined that states could pass laws mandating that every aborted fetus be brought to term in artificial wombs. Gelfland had no predictions about who would raise the babies after they were born. [Nature] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5026586&view=rss&microfeed=true

The area where Bulgaria hugs the Black Sea is a mass of cheap, crappy resorts punctuated by a few luxury hotels. Still, areas with untouched forest remain — at least, they will until next year, when an eco-community will turn nature into "nature" by creating a carbon-neutral city in a place where there are currently no humans at all. Apparently replacing real forest with a development that "may contain nature" isn't a popular idea. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5025196&view=rss&microfeed=true