When you think of those who can save the human race, who do you put on the list? Superman, the X-Men, the Avengers, oysters… Oysters? Actually, these humble bivalves are now being recognized as an important part of the ecosystem. We know sea levels are rising, and sea coasts must either adapt or drown. Enter
With all the debate and turmoil over COVID-19, there is one thing we all can agree on: the virus isn’t cooperating. Worse, the virus is deliberately making things as difficult as it can. It’s not behaving in predictable ways. It has kept us off-guard throughout the entire pandemic. I was made aware of all the
I’ve just run across another unusual way our civilization is affecting the environment. Our prolific drug habits may be addicting fish. According to a recent laboratory study, published July 6th, 2021 in the Journal of Experimental Biology, freshwater fish can get hooked on methamphetamine that washes into the waterways to the point that they actively seek
The Italian town of Viganella had a problem — the sun would disappear from November 11th until February 2nd every winter. Normally this only occurs to communities inside the Artic and Antarctic Circles, but Viganella is unique in that respect — it sits at the bottom of a steep, v-shaped valley at the border with
My first visit to Yosemite National Park in California happened to coincide with a full moon. Taking in all the wonders the park has to offer, I listened to an evening presentation given by a ranger. She explained how, if you stand in just the right place near one of the major waterfalls during a
We think of laughter as a uniquely human trait. Laughter for us is inborn — even deaf babies laugh. Plus there is a cultural component, as people in some cultures laugh more than others, but it’s a universal part of our behavior. Now scientists are saying it’s an important part of animals’ behavior too. New
The late spring is always a trying time to be a substitute teacher, with students quickly losing interest as the summer approaches. This pandemic year has been hard on everyone, from wearing masks and hybrid schedules featuring double periods to in-person learning only four days a week. Nice weather means students can take mask breaks
As a casual observer of astronomy, I’ve learned two things — There’s more to the universe than what you can see, and you have to think big. For example, radio astronomy studies the sky at radio frequencies. This subfield of astronomy dates back to 1932, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories detected radiation coming from within our home
What is the most feared insect? Mosquitoes deserve a vote, spiders are scary (although technically they aren’t insects), and I’m not a fan of horseflies. And then there’s the wasp. I have learned to stay well away from all the varieties of these narrow-waisted insects (suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera), which include yellowjackets and hornets. They don’t
It’s an accepted fact that there is a tendency for certain natural disasters to occur at specific times of the year. We have a definite hurricane season, parts of the country have fire seasons, and tornados tend to pop up during predictable times. But could this be true for earthquakes? Possibly. A study conducted in
