For Australia-born, South Africa-based Adrian Steirn, capturing the beauty of Africa is intrinsically linked to efforts at protecting the world’s only scaly mammal, the pangolin—of which two species live on the continent. The animal also happens to be among the world’s most trafficked. According to recent statistics, more than one million pangolins have been hunted and killed in the last decade. The illegal trade of animals …
American scientist Ben Novak has spent the past six years working on a process referred to as de-extinction—with the goal of bringing back the passenger pigeon species that died off in 1914. In Melbourne, Australia Novak has used gene-editing to weave the Cas9 gene into the reproductive organs of common pigeons. Cas9 enables the use of CRISPR, a tool that acts as molecular scissors and …
LA-based photographer Michael Muller has captured celebrities (including Rihanna for her album cover Unapologetic) to mutants and superheroes (the movie posters for “X-Men Apocalypse” and “Captain America: Civil War” to name a few), but the most fascinating subject that’s challenged him continuously over the past decade lives far from the hills of Hollywood. Since 2007, Muller has been swimming among the sharks, shooting in a …
