Born on this day in 1834, the German marine biologist Ernst Haeckel coined the word "ecology." A year earlier, Emily Dickinson captured the unnamed concept in a poem:

Almost all 3,600 listed heritage properties in Toronto are about to lose their protection against demolition and redevelopment www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

A newly discovered Michelangelo sketch has sold at Christie’s, New York for $27.2 million (with fees), smashing both its $2m estimate and the artist’s auction record ocula.com/magazine/art...

CHURCHILL – The Manitoba government is putting up a quarter-million dollars to look at setting up a protected area in the waters of western Hudson Bay.

Today, the world has made history - the #BBNJ Agreement has officially entered into force. Hear from ministers, ocean advocates, and High Seas Alliance members urging all nations to keep global momentum toward universal ratification high. #HighSeasTreaty #60ToGlobal

Fruit and Flowers c. 1630 By Orsola Maddalena Caccia [born Theodora], 1596-1676 an artist and Ursuline nun who ran a studio that supported an Ursuline convent at Moncalvo, where she was abbess. (Met Museum)

Apple and a quince, c. 1576 Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, 1538-1588 (Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

SCIENCE MAGAZINE: Our favorite Science photos of 2025 www.science.org/content/blog... @science.org #photojournalism #journalism #photography

Year in wildlife – in pictures

Christmas Mail Train Maud Lewis c. 1957

A stunning map of the Atlantic Ocean seafloor — and one woman’s pioneering quest to publish it www.zmescience.com/other/geopic...

Italian restorers use laser beams to clean an ancient Roman marble column in the piazza outside the prime minister's office, removing layers of dust and grime that had covered the monument for decades.

Time to find sustenance in a renewed flowering of botanical art ft.trib.al/7uCMXz9 | opinion

When El Niño strikes in the Pacific Ocean, you might not expect fishermen off the coast of Senegal or Brazil to feel its effects. But they do, and in ways that are both surprising and complex, according to a new paper. 🧪 🌊 bjerknes.uib.no/en/news/nar-...

Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

Our scientists have been busy this year! From dinosaurs to diatoms, they have helped to describe an amazing 262 new species from all around the world! 🪸🐠🦎🦋🪱 Read more about this year’s new species list 👇🏻 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

Polar bears face “total extinction” by the end of this century, but scientists have found a small beacon of “hope”.

Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :) The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used > neal.fun/size-of-life/

For Real, a Natural History of Misinformation “It’s not just humans who suffer from leading one another astray. So do fish, flies and even bacteria.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/s... 🎁 link

Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 🔟 Tidings of joy #calligraphy

This year is set to be the world's second or third-warmest on record, potentially surpassed only by 2024'S record-breaking heat, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Tuesday. https://ow.ly/C5Vo50XGFMJ

Industry groups and scientists have urged the Trump administration to reconsider its plan to close a renowned Agriculture Department center in Maryland and disperse its work around the country. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u... 🎁 link

Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 9️⃣ Bee-fore and after Gouache, ink, gold foil #calligraphy #versals

Back to their roots: a brief history of trees – in pictures

“B.C. is learning more about killer whales in its coastal waters thanks to the collaborative work of hundreds of people. Citizen scientists are taking photos of whales' dorsal fins in the Salish Sea and sending them to researchers.” www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 8️⃣ Going for gold (and black) for a Christmas card twist #calligraphy #feliznatal

“Two armed men stole more than a dozen works of art, including some by Henri Matisse, on Sunday from a library in São Paulo, Brazil, the latest robbery to rock the art world since the Louvre heist in October.” 🎁 link www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/w...

Water leak in the Louvre damages hundreds of works, museum says www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

"A lack of contact with nature and limited knowledge about nature can reinforce each other in a negative spiral." #Biophobia - people can fear what they don't know or understand. Education in and about nature is vital phys.org/news/2025-12...

Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 7️⃣ #calligraphy doodles, aka versals

‘Not a simple journey’: a rare Inuvialuit kayak has come home from the Vatican Museums www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/9e1609e...

Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 6️⃣ In the spirit of the season #calligraphy

See some of the winning entries for this year's Oceania Photo Contest, including Miesa Grobbelaar's shot of a whale, which took the top prize

Frank Gehry: 12 Essential, Stunning Projects www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/a... 🎁 article

This vista alone was worth the trip to Spain: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Architect Frank Gehry passed away today. "In Bilbao, Spain, they wanted to shoot me when they saw the [Guggenheim design] and now they get $500 million a year in revenue to the city.” 💛

Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 5️⃣ A shimmering paper dahlia I pulled this one from the vault in honour of Frank Gehry’s passing today. I was in 💛 with his sinuous architecture.

Frank O. Gehry, Titan of Architecture, Is Dead at 96 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/a...

Remembering Frank Gehry today with this Architectural Digest 2023 look at some of his spectacular buildings “Discover these amazing buildings devised by the Pritzker Prize–winning architect over the past five decades” www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/best...

Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 4️⃣ Swimming with the fishes

“A 5,500-mile blob of seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean that has menaced beaches across the Caribbean and Florida in recent years is exploding in size, while a second patch farther north is declining rapidly, driven by rapid changes in the region’s climate.” (🎁 article) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/c...

This is the future we’re leaving - a plastic rubbish dump in the Pacific Ocean www.earth.com/news/great-p...

Is This Polar Bear Town Canada’s Key to the Arctic? “The tiny town of Churchill has two of Canada’s largest pieces of Arctic infrastructure, but years of neglect have left them in poor shape amid growing superpower rivalry in the region.” (Gifted article) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/w...

Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 3️⃣ The colours of fall 🍁

A long-lost painting by Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens, unseen for four centuries, has just sold at auction in Versailles for $2.7 million www.artnews.com/art-news/new...

This study from #RSOS demonstrates that pineapple peel waste, an abundant byproduct of fruit processing, can be upcycled into a sustainable natural dye for cotton fabrics. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... | #GreenChemistry #NaturalDye #EcoTextile

‘Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 2️⃣ Camping with watercolours 🏕️ 🎨

‘Nature’s original engineers’: scientists explore the amazing potential of fungi www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

‘Tis the season for… #ArtAdventCalendar! Day 1️⃣ A kaleidoscope of paper butterflies boxed with specimen pins 🦋

Math art 🧪🐡🧮