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How a YouTube video brought an extinct bird back from the dead
Kauai, Hawaii –– In 2015, Danish environmental artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen became obsessed with a bird that no longer exists. The Kaua'i 'o'o, a now-extinct species of small honeyeater, was last seen in Hawaii in 1987. According to a recent study in Science Advances, ornithologists have observed population declines in almost all of the Kauai Island's honeycreeper species, a famously diverse family of forest birds that have long-faced environmental destruction, the introduction of non-native species and slaughter of the native plantlife on their island. Scientists also say multiple more extinctions are likely in the coming decades. However, Steensen believes he and other ecologically-minded artists can one day bring long-lost species like the small Kaua'i 'o'o back from the dead, using a combination of technology, digital archiving tools and a whole lot of artistic imagination. Below is an essay on Steensen's current project on re-animation related to the Kaua'i 'o'o. Think of it as an introduction to the emerging world of online ecology.
'Til death do us part
Great Neck, NY -- As I write this, dozens of moths are being suffocated to death in my kitchen pantry without much ceremony. An exterminator named Danny is spraying an intoxicatingly aromatic layer of cedar oil along the inside corners of my kitchen cabinets and strategically placing pheromone traps in the critters' high-fly zones.
Talk to me
Brooklyn, New York -- Scooby, my friend Gram's dog, isn't exactly inscrutable. As a rambunctious five-year-old pit bull, he usually makes whatever he wants you to know fairly apparent. When Scooby first sees you, he tells you he's happy by wagging his tail and, when he's feeling particularly naughty, jumping up to lick your face. When he wants to play tug-of-war, he grabs a toy and presents it, his intent clear. When he's concerned, he barks, but only once or twice.
Wonders of Wildlife
Springfield, Missouri -- This story begins in a liquor store. That's where, in 1971, Johnny Morris first launched his Bass Pro Shops fishing and hunting empire, selling lures, bait and tackle amid the bottles of Jim Beam and Jack Daniel's in one of his father's Brown Derby booze shops. It's also where the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium begins, a monument to American conservation that opened up six months ago in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, calling itself "the world's largest wildlife museum."
Inside the animal internet
Halfway across the world, a goat is shivering. You know this because you've hooked her up to an accelerometer, which can measure tiny changes in her body movements. You also know the goat's heart rate, body temperature, how much energy she's using, when she's looking up or down and where exactly in her habitat she is at all times through high tech monitors. You have information about her immediate environment, things like temperature, humidity and altitude. With cameras, you can see the world from her vantage point. With acoustic sensors, you can hear her drink, feed and call to her goat kin.
Engadget and Silica Magazine are partnering for a week-long takeover
Over the past few years, Engadget has put more of an emphasis on longform stories. Some have come from our reporters, others from talented freelance writers, but all have matched our mission to explore technology and its relationship with science, entertainment and culture. Engadget is not alone in its desire to tell these stories.
