People prefer meat alternatives if they are significantly cheaper than real meat, study shows (Phys)
Only a few people fundamentally oppose eating plant-based meat alternatives, a recent survey of 2,100 customers in the U.S. shows. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was conducted by marketing researchers from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Humboldt University Berlin and Georg August University Göttingen.
Bonobos can tell when a human doesn’t know something (Scientific American)
An experiment shows that bonobos can understand when a human lacks knowledge and point them in the right direction. A few captive bonobos recently faced a seemingly simple task: locate a tasty snack hidden under one of three cups. Because bonobos are brainiacs, pinpointing the cup with the treat should have been no sweat. But […]
Virginia Senate passes bill requiring animal testing facilities to send unneeded primates to sanctuaries (Court House News)
Advocates say the unneeded animals deserve to feel the sun on their faces and grass under their feet after a lifetime in confinement.
This look at animal consciousness is a moral workout—in the best way (New Scientist)
Should chimpanzees have rights? What about elephants? Or ants? Or microorganisms? And how about artificial intelligence? These questions are at the heart of The Moral Circle: Who matters, what matters, and why, a crisply argued little book by philosopher Jeff Sebo.
‘It’s an absolute travesty’: fears for border wildlife as Trump takes office
During Donald Trump’s first presidential term, he began an ambitious and costly border militarization program, including the construction of over 450 miles of wall that severed wildlife corridors and fragmented ecosystems in some of the country’s most remote and biodiverse regions.
‘The worst way of dying’: scientists urge coordinated effort to stop whales getting tangled (The Guardian)
Experts recorded 45 entanglements off Australia’s east coast in 2024—but believe that’s ‘the tip of the iceberg.’
Do insects feel pain? (The New Yorker)
Insects make up about forty per cent of living species, and we tend to kill them without pause. New research explores the possibility that they are sentient.
Emotional reunion awaits anti-whaling activist Paul Watson after his sudden release in Greenland
Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson was freed from prison in Greenland after five months in custody, and will not be extradited to Japan where he is wanted on charges of obstructing a whaling ship. Watson is planning to return home to be reunited with his family during the festive season, he told The Associated Press upon […]
‘Like a giant bird box’: the volunteers building huge snowdrifts for Finland’s pregnant seals
Eight hours shoveling snow in -20C might not sound like the ideal day out, but a committed team of volunteers in Finland are working dawn to dusk building enormous snow drifts for one of the world’s most endangered seals.
Why 597 million chickens go missing from America’s food supply each year
Chicken giants are pushing birds to their biological limits. A staggering number die but never make it to consumers’ plates.
Meat Without The Animals
Meat cultivated from cells—with no need to raise and slaughter an animal—is now a reality. But can it be made cheaply enough to displace animal agriculture?
Drugs, hormones and excrement: the polluting pig mega-farms supplying pork to the world
Mexico is a leading international pork producer, but Yucatán residents say the waste oozing from hundreds of enormous hog farms is destroying the environment.
