Researchers monitoring a recovering population of Peregrine Falcons in southern Nevada have discovered that the birds are contaminated with mercury, an element that has been correlated with increased mortality or reduced reproductive success in raptors and wading birds.

Once bathing in the waters of the southwestern United States, a fish, Cyprinodon macularius , found in the Death Valley basement, has surprisingly adapted after the drastic change in its aquatic environment. The adaptation of its metabolism to new conditions is an astonishing example of physiological plasticity.

Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader who announced his retirement last week, settled into a corner booth at the Triple George Grill here, his faced masked by dark sunglasses, evidence of lingering injuries from a workout accident that left him blind in one eye.

Tiny pupfish have adapted their respiration to go without oxygen for long stretches.

And you thought you could hold your breath for a long time. Enter the desert pupfish, a tiny fish that has been playing evolutionary catch-up due to the extreme changes in its environment over the last 10,000 years.

The desert pupfish has evolved to go without oxygen for considerable periods of time to survive its harsh environment