A Doll Comes To Visit

You are a fifth-grade girl who comes home from school to find a doll on your front porch. The doll looks like you, is dressed like you, and there is something about the eyes. Who left it? Why is it here? And what makes this doll so special?

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With a Little Help From My Friend

Jim Jenkins is an ace detective who solves the most difficult crimes. Yet he always works alone. Or does he?

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The Boy Who Could Wiggle His Ears

Learning how to wiggle your ears is really hard. But you can do it if you keep trying. And if you learn to keep trying, no problem is too big. So if you can wiggle your ears, you can do anything!

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The Secret Lives of Trees

One of the hallmarks  of the Disney animated TV show “Darkwing Duck” was a cadre of eccentric villains, like Dr. Reginald Bushroot, a vengeful botanist who became part plant after a failed experiment (http://darkwingduck.wikia.com/wiki/Bushroot).  I recalled this when I read about a German forester who is giving plants credit for some very human characteristics. Peter

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Birds Who Start Fires

Smokey Bear would be appalled. Australian Aborigines have always used fire as a hunting aid and to keep ecosystems healthy.  They realized something long before we did — small fires burn away excess plant material and prevent catastrophes.  But according to Aboriginal lore, there was another native species who saw the value of fire —

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First Thought, Best Thought?

For the past twenty-plus years, I’ve met once a week with a group of friends to play “wargames.”  Not running through the woods (I’m too old for that), but board games that are historical simulations.  It can be tough to make a decision sometimes, especially if you know what really happened and you’re trying for

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Will a Marriage Last?

How do you know if a marriage will last?  This is definitely out of my area of expertise, but I’ve run across someone who has developed some signs to watch for. One neutral observer who spends a lot of time with the couple.  A wedding photographer. A group of professional wedding photographers have compiled a

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How To Save Water Part 2

My last post highlighted water shortages, using Cape Town, South Africa as an example, and one agricultural solution being tried in Oklahoma.  As a follow-up, the BBC has published a list of the eleven other cities most likely to run out of drinking water.  If you’re wondering if you live in a vulnerable area, the

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How To Save Water

Whenever I get a chance to teach social studies, I tell my students that sometime in their lifetimes there will be a war over water somewhere in the world.  You’ve probably seen the stories about Cape Town, South Africa, and how their current water supply is measured in months.  The latest projection is they will

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Why Is Our Life Expectancy Dropping?

I just ran across a disturbing article — Life expectancy in the U.S. has dropped for the second year in a row.  An editorial in the journal BMJ entitled “Failing Health of the U.S.” (http://www.bmj.com/content/360/bmj.k496 ) considers this “alarming because life expectancy has risen for much of the past century in developed countries, including the

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Someone to Admire — Rob Jones

Never underestimate the power of running. Rob Jones is a former Marine combat engineer who lost both legs to an explosion in Afghanistan.  But what others would think was a handicap, he saw as an opportunity.  First he and a partner won a bronze medal as rowers in the 2012 Paralympics, then went on to

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