Puffins We recently declared the Dalmatian to be one of the most recognizable dogs on the planet. Certain types of critters are so distinctive that most humans can identify them with just a glimpse. Some of these animals stand out because of their size or shape, such as the elephant or the crab, but not necessarily their …
The Dark Lady of DNA For many decades following the 1950s, biology classes across the United States and the world drilled two names into the heads of students in relation to unraveling the “secret of life.” Which brilliant scientists unlocked the famous double helix of deoxyribonucleic acids – aka DNA – the coding chains of life on …
Mast Years In many parts of the Midwestern and Eastern United States (and perhaps more of the country), Autumn 2023 has contained a bit of an oddity. Yard owners and hikers have noticed a spate of squirrels on the prowl and a seemingly unending deluge of nuts on the ground. A member of my family …
Infantile Amnesia On my eldest daughter’s second birthday, we ferried her to one of her favorite parks. After cake, singing, and gifts at a shelter house, I took her toward the playground. When we approached the slides, a smile erupted on her face that seemed to illuminate the entire planet. It was one of the …
The Magic of Hot Water We take for granted many of the comforts of modern life. If an apocalyptic event neutered our system of specialists and severed our ability to access information instantaneously, how many of us could recreate most of the mechanical wonders in our homes? We’re surrounded by wires, fiber optics, and pipes, …
Fireworks In this age of digital wizardry, where one can conjure great feats of the imagination with relative ease, sometimes the old, analog displays dazzle us the most. Few things capture human attention more than pretty exploding ordinances. In the 21st century, even fireworks displays depend on computers and intricately plotted sequencings developed by algorithms. …
Electrical Air A recent scientific study might redefine the phrase “out of thin air.” Interestingly, this redefinition could complete the cliche’s evolutionary circle. We utter the expression when we encounter something seemingly arising from no clear antecedent as if a magician conjured the subject. According to the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, the idea is …
The Wallace Line & Biogeography When the age of exploration yielded to a period not simply of unlocking new areas of the globe, but of serious, timely examinations of those areas, the study of Earth’s biology began in earnest. In the middle of the 18th century, Carl Linnaeus noticed patterns in the similarities and differences …
No Mow May Few things have obtained the hegemony in the American landscape as that of the short, manicured lawn. Aesthetic edges and flat seas of green can appeal to our sense of geometry and order. But these yards are a relatively modern invention. Humans transitioned from natural spaces to gardens and grasslands for livestock …
Horsepower Sometimes the units we use are downright bizarre. The metric system makes all sorts of sense, but, in the United States, we’ve decided to stick with standards that include the width of human feet (foot), the width of human thumbs (inch), the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day …