Have you ever wondered why the avocado fruit has such a large pit? It would’ve been so much easier to propagate if it was the size of, say an apple seed. (That’s why we’ve never heard of a Johnny Avocado.) Was this an evolutionary malfunction? Sort of. The current scientific evidence is the avocado plant
Parasites are probably the least popular life-form on Earth. For example, Guinea worm disease is a very painful infection cause by a parasite that can be found in areas of Africa without safe drinking water. The details are too gruesome to detail here and there is no treatment. The only good news is eradication efforts
Studying wildlife can sound exciting, but the truth is there’s a large element of unpredictability. Like when a bird runs up your phone bill. Researchers from the R.R.R. Conservation Network have been tracking the migration routes of 13 endangered steppe eagles since 2015 in an effort to refine conservation efforts. They thought they had a
The Coronavirus pandemic is turning society upside down. Should the grandparents (the most vulnerable population) watch the kids with the daycare centers closed? How can migrant workers come to harvest our food if the borders are sealed? Should the National Guard be mobilized to help other states when their own state might be next? Of
If you don’t believe good ideas can come from anywhere, here is some proof. On October 4, 1957 (when I was nine years old), the USSR launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. To say this unexpected breakthrough shook up the U.S. scientific community would be an understatement. Two of those who took notice were
Assume you’re an astronaut flying to Mars sometime in the near future. When you finally arrive (after a trip of anywhere from 150 to 300 days), where will you stay? Someone is working on that. Suppose a robot with a 3D printer went first, gathered local materials, and printed the Martian base’s infrastructure before any
Why trust Science? This has become a pertinent question, especially in the current political climate. Science has a role in so many aspects of our lives, from our jobs to our health to our environment. Yet, despite being able to time solar eclipses down to the second, there seems to be more distrust of what
Talk about weird science –– can plants learn? Or at the very least, can they remember? Try a simple experiment. Place a plant in an enclosed box with two holes in the top to admit light. Open one hole for a specific period of time, long enough for the plant to grow toward it (plants
It came as a shock to me to hear that all rainbows are not the usual kaleidoscope of colors. There are different kinds of rainbows, including some that are almost all red. They are rare, but they can be found. Basically, red rainbows happen when the sun is on the horizon. When the sun
On September 20, 1848, the American Association for the Advancement of Science was founded in Philadelphia. (http://www.aaas.org/) Its purpose was to “procure for the labors of scientific men increased facilities and a wider usefulness.” This was actually a new concept, the term “scientist” having been used in England for the first time in 1833. Of course,