Fifty years ago, a young Jane Goodall first walked into the Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Things have changed dramatically. She talks about the changing political, environmental and ecological landscape in which she has dedicated her life's work of studying the social and familial interactions of wild chimpanzees. She says that what used to be a densely forested area is now "an island of forest surrounded by cultivated fields and people struggling to survive."

It may seem like we know everything about the natural world around us, but new species are being discovered every year. The man in charge of helping decide the most interesting discoveries is Quentin Wheeler, vice President of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University and founding director of the International Institute for Species Exploration. Some of this year's most fascinating discoveries: a pony the size of a pea, the world's longest stick insect, and naturally decaffeinated coffee.

Some biologists believe that we are now in the midst of what they call “the sixth extinction”—the sixth time in the history of the earth when a devastating mass extinction has occurred. New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert says that some estimate that half of all species may have disappeared by the end of this century. She joins The Takeaway to explain what may be causing this event, and what can be done to stop it.

For more, read an abstract of Elizabeth Kolbert's article, The Sixth Extinction? in The New Yorker. If you are a subscriber to the magazine, you can read the entire article.

If you feel guilty about eating cows and pigs but have no problem downing a tuna sandwich, we have some bad news: fish feel pain. That's the conclusion of a study conducted at Purdue University on two groups of goldfish. One group, injected with morphine, acted totally normal after being subjected to painful stimuli. The other group, morphine free, showed wary and anxious behavior after the pain was stopped. Researcher Joseph Garner, an assistant professor of animal behavior and well-Being, joins The Takeaway to explain the study and why it's significant.

"Just looking at a picture of nature was relaxing enough to actually produce some cognitive benefits." -- Jonah Lehrer