The World’s First Forest If you had to guess, where would you place the planet’s oldest forest? The world’s oldest known tree – a bristlecone pine called Methuselah – is nearly 5,000 years old. Technical definitions of “forest” are nebulous, but they largely revolve around biomes that contain numerous trees. Forests see trees come and go, some
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The Crabs of Christmas Island In 1615, about 200 miles south of the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, Europeans first spied a 52-square-mile spit in the distance. Nearly three decades later, Captain William Mynors sailed aboard the Royal Mary for the East India Company. On 25 December 1643, Mynors spotted the same isle and decided to
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Mortal Flower That Perishes Like All That Is Pure One of life’s great small pleasures is the glory that emerges from translating proper native names into other languages. Sometimes we garner a euphonious moniker with a plain strict translation. For example, Katahdin is a musical name that means “Great Mountain.” While Maine’s High Point certainty is a
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Frisson You’re at a concert and hear a thrilling or moving musical snippet, perhaps a particularly soulful bit of vocals or a combination of instruments that seem to mimic a truth of the universe. You’re in a dark theater and watch a heartwarming bit of acting on the screen or stage that deftly displays complex
Artificial Intelligence – Part II [Editor’s Note: Normally, we do not replicate the prefaces to the newsletters on the website; often they do not pertain at all to the article at hand. This issue must stand as an exception. Other than the text immediately following, it’s important to add here that the article below
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Paleoburrows The science of paleontology relies heavily on fossils. This statement is a bit inane, as paleontology is defined as the study of prehistoric life, broadly covering anything that lived before the Holocene epoch (our current age, which stretches to a point a little more than 10,000 years ago). Obviously, to glean anything about organisms
Kelping Whales Earlier in 2023, we investigated the strange behavior of orcas in Portuguese waters. Not only were they attacking boats, but they seemed to be teaching the behavior to other orcas. One theory that might explain the behavior relates to fads. The intelligent creatures who run in tight groups sometimes display odd conduct for certain
Pumpkin Pie Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done? / Hurrah for the pumpkin pie! –Lydia Maria Child, “Over the River and Through the Wood” We continue a tradition of exploring plants and animals associated with Thanksgiving, after investigating wild turkeys, cranberry sauce, and maize. Though cranberry sauce contains some sweetness, most people do not consume it
Landing a 787 on Antarctic Ice The inhospitality of Antarctica requires little setup. It’s the coldest place on the planet. It’s so remote that, sometimes, when one develops appendicitis one must perform surgery on one’s self. Approximately 70 scientific stations dot the icy continent, staffed by around 1,200 brave souls during the winter. During the summer,
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Reduce Your Usage Without a doubt, plastics have revolutionized engineering, medicine, packaging, and numerous other milieu across the globe. The first human-made polymer is generally considered to be Parkesine, which was created by Alexander Parkes in 1855. Parkesine was composed of cellulose, a natural component of plant cell walls. By 1907, the first synthetic plastic