The first time Peter Delamere saw an aurora, he sort of wished it would get out of the way. Delamere was at the time an undergraduate student at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and he was taking an observational astronomy course. Those pesky Northern Lights really obscured his view of the stars, he complained. One of [...]
Just last week, my colleagues and I ate a delicious “graduation” dinner to commemorate the end of the 2009-2010 Ted Scripps Fellowships in Environmental Journalism at CU Boulder. It was a bittersweet night. The fellowship is a fantastic program, and I’ll miss it. But I’ve also been eager to get back to life as a [...]
Nature is full of heartwarming stories about partnerships. One of my all-time favorites is the three-way mutualism between Western ponderosa pine trees, tassel-eared squirrels and mycorrhizal fungi. The trees house the squirrels in their branches and the fungi on their roots. The mycorrhizae break down nutrients in the soil for easier absorption by the tree [...]
Hi from Madison, Wisconsin, where the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists is off to a solid start. This video is the product of an all-day workshop using video editing software that I’ve only recently met. Much to my chagrin, I see I’ve got a long way to go. Still, early indications are [...]