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Animals & Wildlife

Diver convinces a tiny octopus to trade a plastic cup for a shell in Pixar-worthy video

The cup wasn't a safe choice, but the little cephalopod was stubborn.

Pall Sigurdsson/YouTube

Plastic is a problem for ocean wildlife.

Sometimes taking care of our beautiful home planet looks like big, broad policies tackling issues like plastic pollution and habitat destruction. And sometimes it looks like taking the time to help one tiny creature stuck in an environmental bind.

In a YouTube video that's been viewed a whopping 20 million times, we see an example of the latter in action as some kind and compassionate divers attempt to convince an octopus to abandon the plastic cup it's using for protection and trade it for a sturdy shell. Pall Sigurdsson has shared dozens of underwater videos on YouTube, but watching this particular video from his dive off the coast of Lembeh, Indonesia, in 2018 almost feels like watching a Pixar short film.

luxo jr lamp GIF by Disney PixarGiphy

"We spent a whole dive and most of our air saving this octopus from what was bound to be a cruel fate," Sigurdsson wrote in the description of the video.

"The coconut octopus, also known as veined octopus, is born with the instinct to protect itself by creating a mobile home out of coconut or clam shells. This particular individual however has been trapped by their instincts and have made a home out of a plastic cup they found underwater."

It's not just that the flimsy plastic cup didn't provide the octopus adequate protection. Sigurdsson explained that a predator like an eel or a flounder would probably end up swallowing the cup with the octopus in it, likely killing both of them. Plus, even if the octopus abandoned the cup on its own, plastic simply doesn't belong in the ocean.

plastic in the ocean, plastic pollution, ocean wildlife Plastic doesn't belong in the ocean.Photo credit: Canva

"We tried for a long time to give it shells hoping that it would trade the shell," he wrote. "Coconut octopus are famous for being very picky about which shells they keep so we had to try with many different shells before it found one to be acceptable."

If you think an octopus in a cup making a decision about shells doesn't sound riveting, just watch:

- YouTubeyoutu.be

The tentacles reaching out to test the weight of each shell, the divers searching for more options to offer it, the suspense of wondering whether the octopus really would abandon its pathetic plastic pollution protection...it's just too much.

Sigurdsson's other underwater videos are also fun to watch. He shared one of another veined octopus who seemed to have no interest in him but became intrigued with his diver friend, Gary. The way it reaches out to touch just the tip of his finger and then shyly retreats feels like such a clear communication with no words being said.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Octopuses are far more intelligent than anyone would have guessed before we started studying their behavior in earnest. They are known to solve puzzles, escape complicated mazes and traps, and take apart just about anything. It does make you wonder what these little guys were thinking when these divers were interacting with them. Was it curiosity? Judgment? An attempt at connection between species?

It's funny how one small interaction in one tiny portion of the vast ocean can say so much about us, for better and for worse. Human pollution is an enormous problem and saving one little octopus won't save the world, but it sure gives us hope and motivation to keep trying for the sake of the vast number of creatures that live in the ocean as well as our own.

You can find more underwater videos of ocean wildlife from Pall Sigurdsson on YouTube.

This article originally appeared four years ago.

From Your Site Articles

wildlife

Planet

Carl Sagan once easily debunked flat Earthers with just a piece of cardboard

The science doesn't lie.

Image via YouTube

Carl Sagan on 'Cosmos'

Over the past few years, there has been a growing number of people who believe the Earth is flat. A 2019 YouGov survey of more than 8,000 Americans found that as many as one in six are "not entirely certain the world is round."

Flat Earth Theory has, surprisingly, gained a lot of traction. A 2021 study published in the National Library of Medicine posited that the theory is buoyed by "the cognitive tendency to interpret, favor, and recall information in order to strengthen one's personal beliefs" or, in other words, confirmation bias. Though the "how" and "why" of Flat Earth Theory and its popularity is fascinating (and troubling, to be honest), the scientifically proven truth is that the Earth is round. It is a globe. It is spherical.

Of course, the knowledge that the Earth is round is not new. Ancient Greek philosophers across centuries studied and found evidence that the Earth is indeed round thousands of years ago. Way back in the 6th century BC, Pythagoras first proposed the Earth was round from observing the shape of the Moon. In the 5th century, Empedocles and Anaxagoras noticed evidence of the Earth's true shape by observing its curved shadow during lunar eclipses. In the 4th century, Aristotle argued the Earth was round after noting how ships disappear "hull-first" over the horizon line. In the 3rd century, Eratosthenes actually calculated the Earth's circumference using geometry and shadows with shocking accuracy.

earth, globe, sphere, flat earth, skeptics, science We've got the whole (round) world in our hands. Image via Canva

Naysayers remain skeptical, and there's probably no changing their minds, but to this day, experts insist the Earth is round and back it up with cold, hard science. NASA posted this video just days ago. Watch:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Here's where Carl Sagan comes in.

Sagan hosted the original version of TV's Cosmos: A Personal Journey in 1980-81. According to PBS, Cosmos would become "one of the highest-rated programs in the history of public television" largely due to Sagan's ability for "reinterpreting intricate scientific jargon into elegant and memorable statements that the common person can easily conceptualize and appreciate." The show would be revived in 2014 with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson at the helm.

In the first episode of Cosmos, Sagan easily proved the Earth was a sphere using a piece of cardboard, some sticks, and the work of none other than the ancient Libyan-Greek scholar, Eratosthenes. Watch:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

"How could it be, that at the same moment, a stick in Syene would cast no shadow and a stick in Alexandria, 800 km to the north, would cast a very definite shadow?" Sagan asked. "The only answer was that the surface of the Earth is curved," he concluded. "Not only that, but the greater the curvature, the bigger the difference in the length of the shadows."

Considering the distance between the two cities and the lengths of the shadows they produced, Eratosthenes was able to determine that the Earth had a seven-degree curve. He used that calculation to speculate the Earth was 25,000 miles in circumference.

These days, we know that the earth is 24,901 miles in circumference, which means Eratosthenes was less than 100 miles off. Didn't we say his accuracy was shocking? Not bad for over 2,000 years ago.

This article originally appeared five years ago.

From Your Site Articles

science

Science

5 reasons platypus are the world's weirdest mammals, not including the egg laying thing

They have venomous spurs and sweat milk?!?

Photo credit: Canva

Platypus are like the Frankenstein's monster of the animal kingdom.

The diversity of life on Earth is mind-boggling. Scientists have identified over a million different species, but they estimate that it's less than 15% of the total number of species that exist in our world. We've barely scratched the surface of what creatures we share the planet with, and yet the variety of animals we know about is absolutely wild.

Among nature's weird animals, though, one stands out at perhaps the strangest—the platypus. The famed oddity from Down Under is known for being one of the tiny handful of mammals that lay eggs, but that's only the beginning of their weird quirks. Here are five reasons platypus might just be the most anomalous animal ever.

1. British scientists thought they were a hoax

Perhaps the most telling indicator that platypus are weird is that even actual animal researchers were in disbelief when they were first introduced to them.

Around 1799, biologist George Shaw was working in the natural history department of the British Museum when he received a pelt and drawing of a mysterious creature from the continent of Australia. It appears to be part duck, part otter, and part beaver—a Frankenstein's monster of an animal, essentially—and it was so strange that Shaw and others questioned if it was even real. After cutting into the pelt in various places to look for stitches, he determined that it was not a scientific hoax but a genuinely unique species.

Drawing of a platypus from 1799Frederick Polydore Nodder (public domain)

To be fair, it genuinely does look like it's just a bunch of random animal parts all stitched together, so we can't really blame them for being skeptical.

2. They're venomous

At least the males are. Spurs on the back of male platypus feet look a bit like dog's canine tooth and contain a clear, slightly venom. If you get stung by a platypus, you won't die, but you will be in a lot of pain—worse than childbirth, according to a woman who was stung by one—that could last for weeks. The localized swelling can last for months, and if you're super lucky you'll get some muscle wasting as well. Morphine and other standard analgesics won't relieve the pain, either, but nerve-blocking drugs can help. Neat, huh?

You're not likely to be attacked or stung by a platypus, however. The main thing to remember is to never pick up a male platypus from below, as touching its belly can trigger the spur response. (Or, you know, play it safe and just don't try to pick up a platypus.)

3. They 'sweat' milk

Platypus are mammals, which means they produce milk to nurse their young. Only problem is they don't have nipples. How does that work?

two baby platypus Even as babies, platypus look like a weird mish-mosh of a creature.Photo credit: Canva

Specialized mammary glands produce milk that oozes from a platypus's skin, much like sweat. As aquatic animals, they don't actually sweat at all, but it's the easiest way to describe how their milk comes out. As it's secreted, it pools into creases in the platypus mother's skin, where her babies—colloquially and adorably known as puggles—lap it up from her fur.

4. They're almost completely blind and deaf when they hunt

Platypus have eyes and ears that work fine on land, but these semi-aquatic creatures hunt in the water. When they go underwater, they keep their eyes closed most of the time, and flaps covering their ears close, rendering them mostly blind and deaf. So how are they able to locate the bottom-dwelling invertebrates they feed on (insect larvae, crustaceans, worms, and mollusks) when they can't see or hear?

Platypus use electroreceptors in their bills that detect electrical fields in their prey. Waving its head back and forth in the water like a metal detector, it can sense the direction and distance of its snacks.

platypus underwater Platypus use electroreception to hunt.Photo credit: Canva

5. They glow under black light

Platypus are about as "boring brown" as an animal can come, which allows them to blend into their natural environment easily. However, that drab coat is hiding a fun little secret: it glows under UV light.

Biofluorescence is common among some species, but exceedingly rare among mammals. Flying squirrels and opossums were the only two mammals known to glow this way prior to the discovery that platypus do it. Black lights make platypus glow a lovely blue-green color and no one knows why. Another delightful mystery.

All of that on top of the fact that they're a monotreme—a mammal that lays eggs—one of only five species with that claim to fame. No wonder they continue to surprise researchers just by being their cute, quirky selves.

wildlife

Animals & Wildlife

The real reason birds are taking over parking lots all over the country

What in the Alfred Hitchcock is going on here?!

Unsplash & acameronhuff/Flickr

I can't remember the last time I went to a store—say a Target, Walmart, or a big chain grocery store—and didn't encounter roving gangs of birds in the parking lot. Sometimes it's only a few pigeons picking at crumbs and discarded sandwiches, and sometimes it's hundreds of seagulls fanning out like you might sometimes see them on the beach. Sometimes it's even geese, who are notoriously the meanest of the bunch. I've always been curious about why birds love parking lots so much, but never gave it a lot of thought.

Then I realized this is a phenomenon that has been happening all over the country for years. Not just gatherings of birds, but in some cases literal takeovers! Stories out of Texas and Louisiana show crows and grackles invading large parking lots by the thousands, making for amazing viral social media moments.

What in the Alfred Hitchcock is going on here? I wish I could ask the birds what's so appealing about asphalt parking lots? Well, I can't; but I can consult with bird experts.

a black duck on a snowy sidewalk A duck. acameronhuff/Flickr

There are four main reasons birds gather in large numbers in parking lots. First? They look like bodies of water.

I've always thought it was weird that waterbirds like seagulls, ducks, geese, and grebes are so common in parking lots.

The Audobon Society (bigtime bird folks) writes, "To a bird flying at night, [parking lots] resembles bodies of water, especially if their surfaces are wet. Even more so if made to glisten by artificial light." Even during the day, it's easy to see how a big patch of asphalt could look like a lake or pond to a flying bird. It makes sense that they'd want to land there and check it out.

Did you know that some waterbirds like certain kinds of grebes, loons, and swifts have trouble taking off from land due to the composition of their bodies? That means the presence of these confounding-looking parking lots can, sadly, cause some waterbirds to get stranded.

Second: They are open and safe from predators.

Being out in the open when you're a small, vulnerable bird seems like a bad idea, but it might actually be brilliant.

"Most of the bird species mentioned (e.g. Canada geese, seagulls, grackles) tend to find safety in numbers, and in parking lots, as well as open fields, it is easier for the group to be aware of predators, since there are not a lot of places to hide," says Dr. Allison Sacerdote-Velat, Curator of Biology and Herpetology and VP of Conservation Research at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

That helps explain not just birds' presence in parking lots, but their sometimes extremely large numbers! In a big group, they can help lookout for one another.

Well-lit parking lots are also a safe place for birds to hang out at night. Crows, for example, are a common food source for owls—a predator with notoriously excellent night vision. Crows don't operate as well at night so they sometimes descend on parking lots with bright artificial lights for better visibility and protection.

@denisdina12

Three: They're full of free food.

Oh, do we humans love to litter in parking lots! They seem to make an excellent place to toss half a hot dog, a gristly chicken nugget, or dump out our toddler's snack bowl.

That makes parking lots relative buffets for birds who like to scavenge for food. It's a lot easier to wait for humans to drop something than it is to go hunting around for insects and seeds. Parking lots, though, just so happen to have a lot of that kind of food too—most big box parking lots have trees, shrubs, and bushes around the periphery which gives cover and access to natural food sources for birds.

Parking lots also collect puddles which can be used as a water source or a way to grab a quick bath.

gif of a flock of birds flying over scientists Schitts Creek Attack GIF by CBCGiphy

Four: Their usual habitats are disappearing thanks to humanity and climate change

Probably the saddest reason that birds love to gather in parking lots is that they often don't have another choice.

"Habitats such as mudflats, plains, and old fields would provide a similar resource," as parking lots, according to Sacerdote-Velat, but those natural ecosystems are getting harder and harder to come by. If you live in an urban or suburban area (with plenty of parking lots) you've probably seen rapid expansion that's cleared out fields and trees to make room for more development. This habitat destruction has been a major factor in the overall bird population in the United States declining by almost 3 billion since 1970—a staggering, heartbreaking number.

Some people get annoyed or even frightened by large numbers of birds in parking lots. To be fair, grackles—big-time parking lot birds—can be fairly aggressive, as can geese. It's not fun navigating your way around a flock of stubborn and feisty birds when you're just trying to grab a shopping cart and run your errands!

But remember, they're just looking for a safe space to not get eaten by an owl. It's not their fault all the open fields and mudflats are gone—it's ours. The least we can do is respectfully share the back half of our Walmart parking lots with them. Just don't feed them old French fries or even bird seed. They're crafty foragers, these parking lot birds, and they'll do just fine with a couple hundred of their brethren helping them keep a lookout.

From Your Site Articles

birds

Nature

Kind scuba divers try to convince a tiny octopus to trade its plastic cup for a shell

The video, which has been viewed more than 18 million times, almost feels like real-life Pixar short.

Pall Sigurdsson/YouTube

In a YouTube video that's been viewed a whopping 18 million times, we see an example of the latter in action as some kind and compassionate divers attempt to convince an octopus to abandon the plastic cup it's using for protection and trade it for a sturdy shell. Pall Sigurdsson has shared dozens of underwater videos on YouTube, but watching this particular video from his dive off the coast of Lembeh, Indonesia a few years ago almost feels like watching a Pixar short film.

"We spent a whole dive and most of our air saving this octopus from what was bound to be a cruel fate," Sigurdsson wrote in the description of the video.

Sigurdsson explained that a predator like an eel or a flouder would probably end up swallowing the cup with the octopus in it, likely killing both of them.

If you think an octopus in a cup making a decision about shells doesn't sound riveting, just watch:

Octo in a cupwww.youtube.com

Funny how one small interaction in one tiny portion of the vast ocean can say so much about us, for better and for worse. Human pollution is an enormous problem and saving one little octopus won't save the world, but it sure gives us hope and motivation to keep trying.

This article originally appeared four years ago.

From Your Site Articles

environment

Science

Flat Earther visits Antarctica to see if the 24-hour sun is real and has an emotional reaction

Flat Earthers and "globe Earthers" came together for the truth-finding trip of a lifetime.

The Final Experiment/YouTube & Unsplash

Admitting you were wrong is not an easy thing to do for anyone.

Three years ago, a pastor from Colorado named Will Duffy found out that some people believed — still believed — that the Earth was flat. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Hadn't we settled this debate centuries ago?! Not only was the debate continuing to rage on, but it was incredibly divisive and was part of a doorway to discredit even more crucial science.

He decided to take it upon himself to end the questions, once and for all. How? By taking a trip to Antarctica.

Duffy devised a project called The Final Experiment, in which he invited prominent "flat Earthers" along with a crew of "globe Earthers" to explore the most remote climate on the planet — together.

In a flat Earth model, Antarctica is usually depicted as an ice wall that encircles the rest of the planet. Sometimes, it's shown as its own distinct continent. However, by visiting Antarctica in the summer, the team would be able to see Antarctica's famous 24-hour sun, or midnight sun, up close and personal.

Flat Earthers, crucially, do not typically believe that a 24-hour sun is possible. In their models, the sun would rise and set in Antarctica the same way it does everywhere else. The existence of midnight sun would, if not outright prove, at least heavily suggest, that Earth is a tilted sphere.

(Of course, there are already mountains of evidence and data that show the Earth is a sphere — and plenty of documentation of the existence of midnight sun. But never mind that for now.)

Duffy reached out to several big-name flat Earthers, and many declined to take the trip. But he was able to get a handful of brave explorers on board. The group flew deep into the interior of Antarctica, landing on an ice runway near Union Glacier Camp.

Will Duffy and his crew live-streamed the whole thing on YouTube via Starlink. The video begins at midnight, with the sun high in the sky — an absolutely stunning sight for many on the expedition. Duffy then allows each member of the team to share their thoughts on the journey and their observations.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Jeran Campanella, one of the most prominent flat Earthers on YouTube, spoke from the heart: "Sometimes, you are wrong in life."

"I thought there was no 24-hour sun, in fact I was pretty sure of it," he said bluntly after observing it with his own eyes. "It's a fact. The sun does circle you in the south. What does it mean? You guys are gonna have to figure that out yourselves."

He stopped short of definitively admitting that the Earth is a sphere, but he did confess that the Azimuthal equidistant map — the most popular flat earth model — no longer makes sense in his mind based on what he saw in Antarctica.

"I realize I'll be called a shill for saying that. And you know what, if you're a shill for being honest, so be it. I honestly believed there was no 24 hour sun, I honestly now believe there is. There it is," he said.

It seems silly, since most of us can acknowledge that a spherical Earth is settled science. But by making this admission on camera, Jeran risked losing his audience, his credibility in his community, and even his livelihood as a content creator with nearly 200,000 followers.

It took courage to finally admit that he was wrong.

"Respect for Jeran. He sounded shaken and he knows he's going to [receive] backlash," wrote a commenter on Youtube.

"I'm quite impressed by Jeran. He chokes up and was quite emotional, clearly this was a deep seated belief of his and he handled being proven wrong with grace. good for him," said another.

Why is it so hard for us to let go of deeply held beliefs? Beliefs aren't always logical decisions, but emotional ones.

A flat earth map By Strebe - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Our identities and our sense of self get so tied up into what we believe. Belief in a conspiracy theory might start as genuine curiosity or confusion but quickly spiral into much more.

People even make good friends and meet romantic partners inside of communities based on their beliefs, so to let go of that is deeply threatening to our psyches.

"Our ego, or sense of self, finds comfort in our various identities. Just as we have fight, flight, or freeze instincts to protect our physical well-being, we defend our psychological sense of self when our various identities are threatened. This is why if someone makes fun of our favorite football team, city, state, country, music artist, political party, hero, religion, ideas, and so on, we feel a surge of emotion to defend them," writes Mike Brooks for Psychology Today.

Even when we see the truth with our own eyes, it can be hard to accept.

"I think what matters most is putting our egos aside," Lisbeth, another flat Earther that accompanied The Final Experiment to Antarctica. "Are we here for truth, or are we here to hold onto narrative and ego?"

Some people just need to see things with their own eyes to believe. And putting your most deeply-held beliefs on the line and going into new situations with an open mind, knowing core pieces of your identity may not hold up to scrutiny, is admirable — no matter what the rest of us might think about the validity of those beliefs.

Mark Herman, who also went on the voyage, said, "Who would have thought? Two groups of people who are so opposed in belief and ideology to the point where there's ridicule, there's shame, all kinds of horrible things, but when they come together, there's so much camaraderie and teamwork between people. I'm very thankful to be a part of it."

Watch the full video and I think you'll be surprised by how much beauty there is in this project, not only in the breathtaking Antarctic landscape and the wonder of never-ending sunshine, but in the humanity and vulnerability on display from each of the participants.

From Your Site Articles

flat earth

Democracy

It is possible to be morally pro-life and politically pro-choice at the same time.

Abortion remains an incredibly polarizing issue but it doesn't have to be.

Wikicommons

Pro-choice and pro-life demonstrators face off

The legality of abortion is one of the most polarized debates in America—but it doesn't have to be.

People have big feelings about abortion, which is understandable. On one hand, you have people who feel that abortion is a fundamental women's rights issue, that our bodily autonomy is not something you can legislate, and that those who oppose abortion rights are trying to control women through oppressive legislation. On the other, you have folks who believe that a fetus is a human individual first and foremost, that no one has the right to terminate a human life, and that those who support abortion rights are heartless murderers.

Then there are those of us in the messy middle. Those who believe that life begins at conception, that abortion isn't something we'd choose—and we'd hope others wouldn't choose—under most circumstances, yet who choose to vote to keep abortion legal.

It is entirely possible to be morally anti-abortion and politically pro-choice without feeling conflicted about it. Here's why.

There's far too much gray area to legislate.

No matter what you believe, when exactly life begins and when “a clump of cells" should be considered an individual, autonomous human being is a debatable question.

I personally believe life begins at conception, but that's my religious belief about when the soul becomes associated with the body, not a scientific fact. As Arthur Caplan, award-winning professor of bioethics at New York University, told Slate, “Many scientists would say they don't know when life begins. There are a series of landmark moments. The first is conception, the second is the development of the spine, the third the development of the brain, consciousness, and so on."

But let's say, for the sake of argument, that a human life unquestionably begins at conception. Even with that point of view, there are too many issues that make a black-and-white approach to abortion too problematic to ban it.

Abortion bans hurt some mothers who desperately want their babies to live, and I'm not okay with that.

a man holds a sign for pro-choice arguments reading "our life - our decision"

a man holding a sign that says our life - our decisionPhoto by Aiden Frazier on Unsplash

One reason I don't support banning abortion is because I've seen too many families deeply harmed by restrictive abortion laws.

I've heard too many stories of families who desperately wanted a baby, who ended up having to make the rock-and-a-hard-place choice to abort because the alternative would have been a short, pain-filled life for their child.

I've heard too many stories of mothers having to endure long, drawn out, potentially dangerous miscarriages and being forced to carry a dead baby inside of them because abortion restrictions gave them no other choice.

I've heard too many stories of abortion laws doing real harm to mothers and babies, and too many stories of families who were staunchly anti-abortion until they found themselves in circumstances they never could have imagined, to believe that abortion is always wrong and should be banned at any particular stage.

I am not willing to serve as judge and jury on a woman's medical decisions, and I don't think the government should either.

pro-life and pro-choice demonstrators face each other

It is possible to be morally pro-life and politically pro-choice at the same time.

Most people's anti-abortion views—mine included—are based on their religious beliefs, and I don't believe that anyone's religion should be the basis for the laws in our country. (For the record, any Christian who wants biblical teachings to influence U.S. law, yet cries “Shariah is coming!" when they see a Muslim legislator, is a hypocrite.)

I also don't want politicians sticking their noses into my very personal medical choices. There are just too many circumstances (seriously, please read the stories linked in the previous section) that make abortion a choice I hope I'd never have to make, but wouldn't want banned. I don't understand why the same people who decry government overreach think the government should be involved in these extremely personal medical decisions.

Protestors gather outside Supreme Court after Dobbs decision

a crowd of people in front of the Supreme Court after Dobbs decision

Photo by Sarah Penney on Unsplash

And yes, ultimately, abortion is a personal medical decision. Even if I believe that a fetus is a human being at every stage, that human being's creation is inextricably linked to and dependent upon its mother's body. And while I don't think that means women should abort inconvenient pregnancies, I also acknowledge that trying to force a woman to grow and deliver a baby that she may not have chosen to conceive isn't something the government should be in the business of doing.As a person of faith, my role is not to judge or vilify, but to love and support women who are facing difficult choices. The rest of it—the hard questions, the unclear rights and wrongs, the spiritual lives of those babies,—I comfortably leave in God's hands.

Most importantly, if the goal is to prevent abortion, research shows that outlawing it isn't the way to go.

The biggest reason I vote the way I do is because based on my research pro-choice platforms provide the best chance of reducing abortion rates.

Abortion rates fell by 24% in the past decade and are at their lowest levels in 40 years in America. Abortion has been legal during that time, so clearly, keeping abortion legal and available has not resulted in increased abortion rates. Switzerland has one of the lowest abortion rates on earth and their rate has been falling since 2002, when abortion became largely unrestricted.

Outlawing abortion doesn't stop it, it just pushes it underground and makes it more dangerous. And if a woman dies in a botched abortion, so does her baby. Banning abortion is a recipe for more lives being lost, not fewer.

At this point, the only things consistently proven to reduce abortion rates are comprehensive sex education and easy, affordable access to birth control. If we want to reduce abortions, that's where we should be putting our energy. The problem is, anti-abortion activists also tend to be the same people pushing for abstinence-only education and making birth control harder to obtain. But those goals can't co-exist in the real world.

Our laws should be based on reality and on the best data we have available. Since comprehensive sex education and easy, affordable access to birth control—the most proven methods of reducing abortion rates—are the domain of the pro-choice crowd, that's where I place my vote, and why I do so with a clear conscience.

This article originally appeared on 01.22.19

From Your Site Articles

abortion rights

earth

Diver convinces a tiny octopus to trade a plastic cup for a shell in Pixar-worthy video

The cup wasn't a safe choice, but the little cephalopod was stubborn.

Carl Sagan once easily debunked flat Earthers with just a piece of cardboard

The science doesn't lie.

5 reasons platypus are the world's weirdest mammals, not including the egg laying thing

They have venomous spurs and sweat milk?!?

1. British scientists thought they were a hoax

2. They're venomous

3. They 'sweat' milk

4. They're almost completely blind and deaf when they hunt

5. They glow under black light

The real reason birds are taking over parking lots all over the country

What in the Alfred Hitchcock is going on here?!

There are four main reasons birds gather in large numbers in parking lots. First? They look like bodies of water.

Second: They are open and safe from predators.

Three: They're full of free food.

Four: Their usual habitats are disappearing thanks to humanity and climate change

Kind scuba divers try to convince a tiny octopus to trade its plastic cup for a shell

The video, which has been viewed more than 18 million times, almost feels like real-life Pixar short.

Flat Earther visits Antarctica to see if the 24-hour sun is real and has an emotional reaction

Flat Earthers and "globe Earthers" came together for the truth-finding trip of a lifetime.

Jeran Campanella, one of the most prominent flat Earthers on YouTube, spoke from the heart: "Sometimes, you are wrong in life."

Why is it so hard for us to let go of deeply held beliefs? Beliefs aren't always logical decisions, but emotional ones.

It is possible to be morally pro-life and politically pro-choice at the same time.

Abortion remains an incredibly polarizing issue but it doesn't have to be.

It is entirely possible to be morally anti-abortion and politically pro-choice without feeling conflicted about it. Here's why.

Abortion bans hurt some mothers who desperately want their babies to live, and I'm not okay with that.

I am not willing to serve as judge and jury on a woman's medical decisions, and I don't think the government should either.

Most importantly, if the goal is to prevent abortion, research shows that outlawing it isn't the way to go.

CEO shares 5 things he's 'sick' of hearing from his staff and people are applauding him for it

6th grader's science experiment answers, 'Do cat buttholes touch every surface they sit on?'

Robin Williams saw a struggling comedian bomb on stage. He changed her life with one sentence.

An old male bald eagle who adopted a rock as an egg finally got his own real foster baby

'It's not Little Sun': Mom can't believe she's having trouble pronouncing her newborn's name

Mom calls out unfair 'double standard' of boomer grandparents who don't help with childcare

We have a small favor to ask of you

earth

The cup wasn't a safe choice, but the little cephalopod was stubborn.

The science doesn't lie.

They have venomous spurs and sweat milk?!?

1. British scientists thought they were a hoax

2. They're venomous

3. They 'sweat' milk

4. They're almost completely blind and deaf when they hunt

5. They glow under black light

What in the Alfred Hitchcock is going on here?!

There are four main reasons birds gather in large numbers in parking lots. First? They look like bodies of water.

Second: They are open and safe from predators.

Three: They're full of free food.

Four: Their usual habitats are disappearing thanks to humanity and climate change

The video, which has been viewed more than 18 million times, almost feels like real-life Pixar short.

Flat Earthers and "globe Earthers" came together for the truth-finding trip of a lifetime.

Jeran Campanella, one of the most prominent flat Earthers on YouTube, spoke from the heart: "Sometimes, you are wrong in life."

Why is it so hard for us to let go of deeply held beliefs? Beliefs aren't always logical decisions, but emotional ones.

Abortion remains an incredibly polarizing issue but it doesn't have to be.

It is entirely possible to be morally anti-abortion and politically pro-choice without feeling conflicted about it. Here's why.

Abortion bans hurt some mothers who desperately want their babies to live, and I'm not okay with that.

I am not willing to serve as judge and jury on a woman's medical decisions, and I don't think the government should either.

Most importantly, if the goal is to prevent abortion, research shows that outlawing it isn't the way to go.