Melissa Gaskill

Joined: Jul 16, 2014

Independent journalist Melissa Gaskill covers science, the environment, and adventure travel for a variety of print and online publications and is the author of two books: A World-Wide Travel Guide to Sea Turtles and Best Hikes with Dogs: Texas Hill Country and Gulf Coast. She enjoys kakaying, hiking, scuba diving and anything to do with the ocean, and can be found @MelissaGaskill.

A green sea turtle swims in the waters off Maui.

20 Terrific Facts About Sea Turtles

Bubble curtains have the power to decrease underwater noise.

Human Noise Harms the Ocean’s Biggest Creatures. Tiny Bubbles Could Help Protect Them.

11 Surprising Facts About Sharks

11 Facts About the Vaquita, The World's Most Endangered Porpoise

The Troubling Consequences of the Vanishing Ice at Glacier National Park

The formations that give the park its name could vanish as soon as 13 years from now.

NOAA Fisheries Service scientists disentangle a young North Atlantic right whale off the coast Florida.

Meet the Biologists Who Rescue Whales Trapped in Fishing Gear

Getting tangled in lines and nets can be deadly for whales—and it's a global problem.

Should Scientists Battle Poachers by Keeping Animal Locations Secret?

Poachers are using scientific papers to help find their targets.

4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Feed the Birds (Or Any Animals)

Step away from the bread.

Fat Cat via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0

8 Ways Domestic Cats Are a Serious Threat to Nature

We adore them too. Really. But this is a major problem.

11 Things You Might Not Know About the Gulf of Mexico

8. You could call it an aquatic highway.

9 Alarming Facts About Coral Reef Bleaching

The longest-lasting recorded global bleaching event began in 2014 and continues to affect coral reefs worldwide.

15 Shucking Amazing Facts About Oysters

3. Spring is when a young oyster looks for love.

Why We Track Asteroids Like the One That Flew by This Week

TX68 appeared to have a four in 1 billion chance of hitting Earth. That may sound like a long shot, but the odds were four times higher than the threshold NASA has set for potentially hazardous objects.

10 Bright Facts About the Northern Lights

Seeing the astronomical phenomena known as the northern lights, a.k.a. aurora borealis, is a bucket-list item for many people.

5 of the World's Largest Telescopes—and Their Discoveries

You can visit all of them.

8 Cool Things We Can Do With Satellites

Monitoring migration patterns and moisture levels are just two of the ways satellites help scientists.