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More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas where nature feels like a distant concern.
But thriving ecosystems exist in our cities, even beneath our feet, and embracing urban nature can be a powerful force for change.
West London, for example, got its first beaver dam in 400 years after a family of five relocated to a wetland on the outskirts of the city in October. Hard-working beavers can help prevent flooding after heavy rains.
Our Shared Home was this week’s theme for CNN’s third annual World Appeal Day; Meanwhile, the network highlighted the important connection between cities and wilderness.
Once upon a time a planet
Interactions between urban residents and wildlife do not always go smoothly.
Cape Town’s baboons can often be seen rummaging through rubbish bins and backyards, putting them at risk of conflict with humans.
For primates, dominant behavior makes sense; suburbs are encroaching on their feeding grounds. Easy access to food from Cape Town’s garbage means baboons spend less time and energy foraging and more time socializing with potential mates and the rest of the group.
But there are consequences for baboons. As primates come into contact with dogs, cars and power lines, their health and welfare can be negatively affected. Some baboons were even shot.
The city began taking proactive measures to keep them away from Cape Town’s outskirts and away from their natural hillside habitats.
fantasy creatures
Much of nature photography focuses on Earth’s wild wonders and majestic biodiversity.
Two photographers whose work CNN profiled as part of its Appeal to the World initiative took a different approach. They captured candid images of wildlife in an urban habitat.
Photographer Corey Arnold discovered a bear sheltering in the crawl space of a California home, while Lawrence Hylton spotted a collared owl, a white-lipped pit viper and an Atlas moth on the lush hillsides of Hong Kong’s New Territories during night safaris in Shing Mun. noted. Country Park.
The striking and sometimes hilarious images show just how clever some animals are at adapting to a human-dominated landscape.
To look
The sun is entering a period of increased activity, making it easier to witness dazzling natural displays such as the northern lights or their Southern Hemisphere counterparts.
There have also been sightings of a much rarer night sky phenomenon that occasionally accompanies the auroras. Known as Steve, this star appears closer to the equator than polar auroras and is characterized by a purple-pink arc and green vertical stripes.
The mysterious light show was officially identified less than a decade ago, and explanations for its causes are still taking shape.
The name of this phenomenon also has an unusual origin story, relating to a 2006 DreamWorks film.
All Over the Universe
Astronomers have discovered six planets around a nearby sun-like star whose orbits have remained unchanged for more than 1 billion years.
Exoplanets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune belong to a little-understood class called sub-Neptunes, which are commonly found in the Milky Way.
As the planets orbit their host star, located about 100 light-years from Earth, they exhibit a pattern known as orbital resonance. This is when the planets complete their orbits and exert gravitational forces on each other, creating a harmonious rhythm in which the six planets align every few orbits.
Scientists believe the discovery could help unravel the mysteries of planet formation.
pioneers
Scientists have created tiny living robots from human cells that can move around in a laboratory dish and one day help heal wounds or damaged tissue, according to a new study.
A team from Tufts University and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute called their creation anthrobot.
The research is based on the first living robots, or xenobots, made from stem cells obtained from the embryos of African clawed frogs.
But human cell-based robots differed from their frog predecessors in many ways, exhibiting behavior that surprised scientists.
discoveries
Check out these extraordinary stories:
— NASA astronaut Dr., who died on November 27. Celebrate Mary Cleave’s groundbreaking achievements. She was the first woman to fly on the space shuttle after the Challenger disaster.
— Oceanographers have mapped an underwater mountain off the coast of Guatemala that is nearly twice as tall as the world’s tallest building.
— A 19th-century Tasmanian colonist became known as an accomplished scientist, but letters have now revealed the terrible cost.
— Paleontologists say fossilized footprints show mysterious animals once walked around on bird-like feet, long before the earliest known bird species appeared.
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