Jeez, he sure was beautiful. Our new snake, that is, before it escaped into the car in a mysterious, Houdini-like fashion. I left my family in the car with the snake while on my way into the store to purchase a new home for it. By the time I got back, 15 minutes later, everyone
When I was young I learned that the colors I saw in the world were due to materials absorbing certain wavelengths of light and reflecting others. Leaves appear green because the chlorophyll in plant cells absorbs blue and red light and reflects green. While this holds true for most natural materials, it turns out that nature has more than one way of making color. Many of the most striking colors found in nature often occur through the development of structural coloration. For instance, the absurdly bright colors of butterfly wings, beetle scales, day gecko skin, bird feathers and even certain berries all come from structural color.
It is that time of the year we've all been waiting for… pumpkin spice season. That means pumpkin spice pancakes, pumpkin spice snickerdoodles (seriously, you need to try them), and of course pumpkin spice lattes! Now I'm not a regular at Starbucks most of the year, but when pumpkin spice is in the air, you
The breeding behavior of animals is vastly diverse and has fascinated biologists for centuries. Birds sing elaborate songs and flash their colorful plumage, some mammals fight with each other for the right to breed with females, and some insects offer food as nuptial gifts to win their ladies' hearts (who says romance is dead?). Among
Everyone poops; it is a fact of life. It is something we do behind closed doors, and rarely discuss in civilized conversation. We refer to it as “waste†to be flushed away and forgotten, but for some people your poop could be a precious medical commodity. Poop is a tool that can help in fighting bacteria that are antibiotic resistant. Individuals dealing with these resistant infections may be looking for someone just like you to aid in a fecal transplant. You heard me right, a poop transplant from one person to another to treat a medical condition.
“ The mountains are calling and I must go.†– John Muir Most days I feel a lot like John Muir, only I think it would be frowned upon if I dropped all my responsibilities to visit mountains and live amongst the trees. While I can't become a mountain man and live in a treehouse,
Insects: tiny, alien. We tend to treat them like little machines, little nuisances, little scurrying things we call “It.†Swat It! Catch It! Don't let the dog eat It! But we really should cry, Swat Him, Swat Her! – because insects, just like other animals, are biologically and genetically gendered as males or females. Insect
