If you are a bird lover, you may have marveled at how great flocks of starlings move in unison. There are several excellent examples on YouTube, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY . So how do they do it? Science has been wondering the same thing. It’s only been recently that we’ve had the tools to observe
What if I told you that spiders, those universally reviled members of the bug world, are really valuable and should be protected? Matt Bertone, Extension Associate in Entomology at North Carolina University, makes that point in “A Case Against Killing Spiders” ( http://earthsky.org/earth/case-against-killing-spiders? ). He says spiders are important to both indoor and outdoor ecosystems. What’s more,
During my recent trip to Asia, I was able to read Eisenhower: Soldier and President by Stephen E. Ambrose. Dwight Eisenhower was the first president I remember, and the only presidential library I ever visited. His presidency is easy to overlook, coming between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman on one side and John Kennedy
My first trip to mainland China made me curious as to what I might find. After all, this country was supposed to be one of our Cold War enemies. How much has really changed? Unfortunately, I only spent a few days in Beijing. But even that was instructive — a lot has changed. The Chinese
I haven’t written anything lately because I’ve been traveling again. I’ve just completed a very satisfying two-week trip to China and Bhutan. (Before you ask, Bhutan is a Buddhist country between China and India, east of Nepal.) I didn’t get to see much of China this time, just Beijing and a part of the Great
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but on April 20, 2016, I wrote “A Simple Way to Feed The World.” Based on a National Geographic magazine cover story of March 2016 (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/03/global-food-waste-statistics/ ), “Too Good To Waste: How Ugly Food Can Help Feed the Planet,” it discussed the challenges of having two billion more
This is a previously unpublished poem I dug out of my files. In The Unlikely Event… In the unlikely event of loss of cabin pressure, a mask will drop down. Of fire, head for the nearest exit and do not use the elevator. Of an earthquake, go outside, away from buildings. In the unlikely
Maybe I’ve spent too much time around teenage boys, but an April 6, 2018 podcast segment of the NPR program Science Friday got my attention — an interview with Nick Caruso and Dani Rabaiotti, authors of Does It Fart? The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence. Yes, this is serious science. Specifically, it’s called “flatology” —
Recently, I’ve been working with two women who are expecting babies this summer, and naturally part of the conversation always involves baby names. Which is why a recent article caught my eye — New Zealand has forbidden 21 baby names. Is this a good idea? New Zealand is one of many countries that have some
Something else you might have wondered about in your spare time — how do large flocks of birds seem to move in perfect synchronization? Are they following a leader? No, the reaction time would simply be too short. The best explanation is what scientists call a “maneuver wave.” Wayne Potts, a zoologist who published in
