Animal tracking – Animal tracks and signs guide – How to track any animal (even people).

Animal Tracking and Signs guide – how to track any animal (even people) - Elk, bird, and bobcat tracks

Tracks and signs (collectively termed “spoor” by trackers) include any kind of mark or disturbance left by the passing or activity of an animal or person. Because anything that touches an object leaves a trace, tracks and signs can be found everywhere. With knowledge and practice (tracking animals is both a science and an art),…

Solar power plant uses mirrors to produce steam to drive turbines

They call them “streamers” for the smoke plume that comes from the birds as they ignite in midair while flying over solar plants. Solar plant operators argue that the puffs of smoke commonly seen erupting above the panels is nothing more than insects or bits of airborne trash being ignited by the solar rays reflecting…

oil and gas drilling equipment in siberia

Researchers in Siberia have uncovered and revived (say what!) a 30,000 year old giant virus sparking concern that increased mining and oil drilling in the rapidly-defrosting area could inadvertently release a similar virus that could one day prove harmful to man. The mammoth virus belongs to a new family of mega-viruses that thankfully, only infect…

Sniper in ghillie suit to remain hidden in grass

Professional snipers, particularly military-trained snipers, are well versed in marksmanship, field craft, reconnaissance, observation, surveillance, target acquisition and of course, camouflage. Avoiding a sniper attack can be nearly impossible but by understanding how they work, and following a few simple avoidance tactics, it’s possible you may be able to outwit them – and survive.

U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon issued a stern warning yesterday when he announced that the world is set to run out of drinkable water unless greater efforts are achieved to improve our conservation of the life-sustaining liquid. Ban noted that variable weather from rapid climate change is making agriculture more difficult while extreme weather events…

Scientists announced this week that the level of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a level not seen on earth for a long time, surpassing 400 parts per million (0.000400 mole), a dire milestone. The best available evidence suggests the amount of carbon dioxide gas in the air has not been this high…

South African photographer Dillon Marsh’s latest photographic series tipped us on to some hidden gems that we most likely would have never noticed – cellphone towers disguised as trees. The cellphone infrastructure often provides an incompatible fit with our typically scenic landscapes but those wily South Africans devised an interesting and to some, funny, solution…