The way our language forces us to speak has profound implications on our culture and way of thinking. There are many different types of languages around the world derived from various parent languages. For example, English is a type of Germanic Language which is a branch of the Indo-European language family. It is split into
I love nothing more than waking on a summer's day to the sound of bird songs outside my window. If you read my last post on bird language, this should be no surprise. The piercing sirens of mated cardinal pairs, the churring of chickadees, the sweet murmurs of cedar waxwings—all of these are music to
Let's face it, we all love our oil. In fact, “addicted†may be a more appropriate word than “love.†The stuff practically runs through our veins alongside the caffeine and nicotine. We use oil, directly or indirectly, every single day. It heats our homes. It fuels our cars. It is our consumer lifeblood. To the
Mohammed Hafizur Rahmen is a Bangladeshi eggplant farmer who owns a single acre north of the country's capital Dhaka. Until recently, he spent two days a week every growing season spraying his crops with a toxic pesticide to ward off the “fruit and shoot borerâ€, a caterpillar-like pest that decimates crops throughout Asia. Despite frequent
It's Monday morning. About 15 minutes into my 9AM evolution class, I'm starting to nod off. C'mon, wake up, I tell myself. I look down at my notes and they're totally incoherent. I reach for my tea. Ah yes, caffeine. What time is it? Only 9:26? How can that be?! For me, the worst part
Drugs. Whether or not we like to admit it, drugs play a big role in our everyday lives. For some of us, that drug could be the caffeine in our morning coffee. For others, that drug is the insulin needed to survive. Doctors routinely prescribe drugs to treat everything from cancer to the common cold.
It was a typical Christmas for mom Colleen and her family. Everybody was sitting around the living room and enjoying the day. All of a sudden, Colleen's young son Ciaran started to wheeze. Knowing that Ciaran had a severe nut allergy, Colleen scooped him up and hurried to the kitchen. She grabbed an EpiPen and
Evolution runs on the principle of “survival of the fittestâ€- individuals that are better suited to their environment will be able to survive and reproduce more successfully. Following this logic, one would think that only the ‘good' (advantageous) genes are passed on through generations, and the ‘bad' (disadvantageous) genes are eventually eradicated. Thus, it is
“Imagine a world where butterflies run on batteries.†This is a quote from Terminator 2, when Skynet is just beginning to take over the world. Although it is unlikely that the world will end in complete robotic destruction anytime soon, a new innovation may be putting us one step closer to battery-ran butterflies: a live
The Lorax isn't the only one who speaks for the trees. In the shadow of virtually all earthly plants, an unlikely organism has woven its way into inter-species harmony, and in the process constructed a vast community more cooperative than some human societies. This microscopic diplomat is none other than the humble fungus. Contrary to
Florida torreya's (Torreya taxifolia) current habitats are threatened by climate change. The Torreya Guardians, a self-organized group of scientists and informed citizens, took it upon themselves in 2008 to move this tree species to new, suitable habitats north of its native range. This was the first assisted migration of an endangered species in the United
Birds the world over greet the morning with their songs. Some are hauntingly melodic, like that of the hermit thrush. Others sound liquid and alien, like brown headed cow-birds, who as brood parasites are raised in the nests of other birds. Whether bird songs lighten your spirits or simply wake you from peaceful slumber (blue
