Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of his famous book “The Origin of Species,” has riveted the science community. It’s fun to read major publications, like the journal Nature, and realize they’ve been planning their stories for ages. Social networks including Twitter and Facebook are abuzz with the celebration. It’s like an Olympic [...]
Mostly, I just wanted to share this image because I think it’s beautiful, especially once you know what it represents. This is the branched network of nerves that communicate with a small muscle in the head of a mouse, connecting the base of the ear to the top of the skull. Researchers want to [...]
At first, last week’s announcement that black coats in wolves come from interbreeding with dogs didn’t interest me that much. I have a long-time fondness for wolves, and I don’t particularly care what color they are. But from a gee-whiz biology perspective, the finding actually is pretty interesting. Also, the news was a chance to take a [...]
“And that’s a shame, because we need the gentleness of the people who seek to emulate Jesus’ love as we try to be stewards of this exquisite global creation.”
The news about oceans was pretty grim last week, but there is hope. Most of the world’s fishing countries are reneging on their agreements to fish responsibly and sustainably. Despite harvest restrictions in the Delaware Bay, plummeting horseshoe crab populations are leaving their migratory bird predators high and dry. In a climate change scenario, the poorest fishing [...]
