In 2021, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Bezos Earth Fund, and nine other conservation philanthropies launched the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, focused on protecting at least 30% of the most important land, freshwater, and marine area on the planet.

In the years since, the Hollywood actor/director continued discussions about an even more ambitious challenge to protect the most at-risk species—and he and his conservation group, Re:wild (which helps protect hundreds of threatened species in 360 locations worldwide), unveiled that big idea this week.

The Phoenix Species Project.

From rhinos and tigers, to a golden-crowned lemur, nature is full of comeback stories. Species numbered by just a handful of individuals have rebounded, when given the proper resources—and, in the process entire ecosystems have recovered.

The Phoenix Species Project builds on those good news stories.

The effort begins with a $200 million commitment to provide unprecedented support to the recovery of 100 species facing imminent extinction—including mammals,

Dating back more than 60,000 years ago, humans in southern Africa were engraving ostrich eggshells with intricate geometric patterns that—the longer we study them—look more organized than we previously realized.

A new analysis of the markings found on hundreds of eggshell fragments has revealed our ancestors' remarkable ability to organize visual space according to abstract principles.

Hundreds of the highly unusual egg fragments were found at several archaeological sites where, researchers believe, they were engraved by groups of Homo sapiens who lived in that region.

The investigation team from the University of Bologna concluded for the first time that these engravings on ostrich eggshells were not random or improvised, but followed recurring and surprisingly organized geometric rules, according to the study published in the journal PLOS One.

"We are talking about people who did not simply draw lines, but organized them according to recurring principles — parallelisms, grids, rotations and systematic repetitions: a visual grammar in embryo," says Professor Silvia Ferrara, from the University of Bologna's Department of Classical Philology and Italian

A University of Toronto study is offering new evidence in support of full-fat dairy consumption.

The findings from a 12-week study demonstrate that three daily servings of full-fat dairy can be incorporated into a person's diet without negatively affecting their body weight (or composition), energy metabolism, or blood lipid levels.

In fact, the results, published recently in The Journal of Nutrition, show that participants who ate more dairy saw improvements in blood pressure and had higher intake of calcium, protein and vitamin D.

You may ask, why the literature keeps changing around the 'dangers' of dairy. It turns out, when the scientists reveal more, we all learn more.

Dairy products contain saturated fats, which contribute to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, which is why dietary guidelines around the world have traditionally recommended fat-free or low-fat dairy foods.

However, Professor Harvey Anderson, in the nutritional sciences field at the Toronto University's Faculty of Medicine, says despite these concerns, numerous human studies have found no association between full-fat dairy consumption and negative health outcomes.

Some

180 years ago today, the Smithsonian Institution was first chartered, and named after the British scientist, James Smithson, who bequeathed $500,000 to create a great museum in Washington, DC—even though he had never visited the United States. With the aim of advancing science and mankind's knowledge, the federal government administers and partially funds the 19 museums (and the National Zoo) in the nation's capital. WATCH a couple videos about the great Institution… (1846)

Displaying a vast collection of 1.43 million items for public view, perhaps the best thing about the Smithsonian—beyond its perfect location on the US Mall—has always been the FREE admission offered to all.

Initially funded through Smithson's estate, the institution today gets 62% of its revenue from federal funds through both congressional appropriations and federal grants. The rest comes from private or public sources, like endowments, donations, memberships, magazine subscriptions, concessions and more.

Watch an overview of the History museum, and another about how they preserved The Wizard of Oz ruby slippers after 80

When you see these photos from the Toronto Zoo of their newest resident, you'll know why we had to share.

A pregnant pygmy Hippopotamus gave birth a week ago—tiny feet appearing after 1.5 hours of active labor.

The calf began teetering around in an attempt to stand within 15 minutes of birth—and was seen confidently navigating the space and nursing with mom 4.5 hours after birth. (Watch the video at the bottom…)

Both the calf and its 20-year-old mom named Kindia are doing well and are resting together behind the scenes enjoying a term of privacy.

Calf survival for this species can be challenging, but this is Kindia's third birth, and she has proven herself to be an attentive mother, carefully protecting the newborn beneath her.

The father is a 31-year-old male pygmy hippo named Harvey, after Kindia was introduced to him for eight days in January which resulted in this pregnancy.

"Welcoming a pygmy hippo calf is far more than a celebration of new life,"