“The saiga is an endearing antelope, whose bulbous nose gives it the comedic air of a Dr. Seuss character … Every spring, tens of thousands of them gather in the same place to give birth. These calving aggregations should be joyous events, but the gathering in May 2015 became something far more sinister when 200,000 saiga just dropped dead. They did so without warning, over a matter of days, in gathering sites spread across 65,000 square miles—an area the size of Florida. Whatever killed them was thorough and merciless: Across a vast area, every last saiga perished.” For even the most seasoned researchers, the event was unprecedented and confusing. After a lot of analysis, their most plausible explanation was that a relatively slight rise in temperature might have caused a biological chain reaction. And those temperature rises are the new normal. The Atlantic: Why Did Two-Thirds of These Weird Antelope Suddenly Drop Dead?

+ NPR: Are There Zombie Viruses In The Thawing Permafrost?

+ Bloomberg: Climate Change Could Make Your Basement Uninsurable in the Next Decade.