conservation

A sixth-grade class at St. Jude’s School in Lindora, Santa Ana, west of San José, capped off their school year with a project that allowed them to learn about alternative energy as a fuel by making their own little hybrid cars powered by solar energy and batteries.

A major new study of the world's oceans has reached a shocking conclusion: Thanks to humans, there are now over 5 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing more than 250,000 tons, floating in water around the world.

Until recently, the island’s biggest problem was garbage. Because there is no trash collection at all, locals have long resorted to burying or burning their rubbish.

Following a meeting with animal rights groups, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís on Sunday evening promised the executive branch would include a bill against animal cruelty as a priority for approval in the Legislative Assembly starting next month.

Starting at 8 a.m. Monday, seven alleged poachers will stand trial in a Limón court for the murder last year of 26-year-old Costa Rican sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora.

Human muscle tissue can bounce back from almost any type of wound, but venomous snakes can inflict bites that eat away flesh and even kill their victims. Though scientists have developed anti-venom serums to fight off a snakebite infection, they have yet to pinpoint the exact reason that snakebites can cause such extensive tissue damage. Now, three researchers from the University of Costa Rica's snake bite investigation center are examining exactly what makes a snakebite bite.

As many as 40,000 illegal miners — mostly poor, Quechua-speaking laborers from Peru's Andean highlands — have invaded some of the most pristine and biologically rich sections of ancient forest in the Amazon basin. In just a few years, they have laid waste to more than 120,000 acres, leaving behind Amazonian deserts of pestilent orange craters that bleed into the rivers when it rains.

Responding to an official complaint filed with the National Animal Health Service (SENASA), police raided a Cartago home last week. With only two small bedrooms and a cramped sitting room, the tiny house had served as the only living space for 18 French poodles, part of an illegal breeding operation.

With the discovery of the new plant there are now 52 known species of passion flowers native to Costa Rica. It is the first new species of passion flower discovered in the last 11 years.

Bat expert Richard LaVal has been researching bats, including the consequences of climate change in Monteverde for nearly 40 years. At 77, he isn't interested in slowing down but instead has turned his attention to educating Costa Ricans as well as visitors from abroad.