Paying The Extinction Debt: My New Column for the New York Times

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The extinction crisis we’re experiencing today is hard to get our arms around. It can be tough even to just know when a species really has become extinct, and not just hiding from people. But scientists also want to know how species become extinct. Once we disturb a place, how long do we have to wait before the species there start to disappear? If we can understand the path towards extinction, we may be better able to stop the stampede. For this week’s “Matter” column in the New York Times, I  look at a rare opportunity to test out ideas of “extinction debt,” created by a dam in Thailand. It turns out that species can vanish from fragmented forests with startling speed. Check it out.

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In Fragmented Forests, Rapid Mammal Extinctions

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The New York Times, September 26, 2013

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In 1987, the government of Thailand launched a huge, unplanned experiment. They built a dam across the Khlong Saeng river, creating a 60-square-mile reservoir. As the Chiew Larn reservoir rose, it drowned the river valley, transforming 150 forested hilltops into islands, each with its own isolated menagerie of wildlife.

Conservation biologists have long known that fragmenting wilderness can put species at risk of extinction. But it’s been hard to gauge how long it takes for those species to disappear. Chiew Larn has given biologists the opportunity to measure the speed of mammal extinctions. “It’s a rare thing to come by in ecological studies,” said Luke Gibson, a biologist at the National University of Singapore.

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Genetically Engineering the Wild

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Back in April, I wrote in National Geographic about the provocative idea of bringing extinct species back to life. In the five months that have passed since then, I haven’t spotted any mammoths or saber-tooth lions drifting through my front yard. If “de-extinction” ever does become real, it won’t for quite a while.

What I have seen over the past five months is a new conversation. Part of the conversation has revolved around the specifics of de-extinction. Some people are open to the possibilities of rebuilding genomes and embryos of vanished species. Some people find it a flashy distraction from the real work of fighting the current wave of extinctions.

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MERS At One: The Deadly Virus Drizzle

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RIYADH AT NIGHT. PHOTO BY PETER BAKER, VIA CREATIVE COMMONS

We have the dubious privilege of observing a new disease in the midst of being born. The disease could go on to spread around the world, stall out as a minor, local blight, or disappear altogether. Scientists have been observing its emergence for a year now, and while they know more than they did in 2012, they still can’t predict quite what will happen. Part of their uncertainty stems from the fact that they still don’t know much about its past.

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Retro Report Looks At the Afterlife of Thalidomide

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A couple weeks ago I wrote about the great work at Retro Report in looking back at news stories that were in the headlines decades ago. It was especially gratifying to see all the science they’ve delved into. This morning, they unveiled another fascinating look at the history of science. It’s on the drug thalidomide, which caused dramatic birth defects to children’s arms and legs in the 1950s and led to the modern regulation of medicine.”The Shadow of Thalidomide” features interviews  with the victims of the drug and scientists who discovered new medical uses for it. 

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