Saving the Spix’s macaw, and protecting the energy grid

Two decades after it disappeared in nature, the stunning blue Spix’s macaw will be reintroduced to its forest home, and lessons learned from Texas’s major power crisis in 2021 The Spix’s macaw was first described in scientific literature in 1819—200 years later it was basically poached to extinction in the wild. Now, collectors and conservationists are working together to reintroduce captive-bred birds into their natural habitat in northeastern Brazil. Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt discusses the recovery of this highly coveted and endangered parrot with host Sarah Crespi. Also this week, in an interview from the AAAS annual meeting, Meagan Cantwell talks with Varun Rai, Walt and Elspth Rostow professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin, about how to prepare energy grids to weather extreme events and climate change. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: PATRICK PLEUL/PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY IMAGES; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: two blue Spix’s macaws with podcast symbol overlay] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kai Kupferschmidt; Meagan Cantwell Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add3733 About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices