…is not at the solstice, the shortest day of the year. It comes somewhat earlier (now, for example), and varies depending on latitude. Here’s an explanation for the phenomenon: The key to understanding the earliest sunset is not to focus … Continue reading →
An astounding discovery: A dinosaur tail fragment preserved in amber has been found in northern Myanmar, according to National Geographic. This remarkable, 99-million-year-old specimen was found by a team of researchers led by China University of Geosciences paleontologist Lida Xing, … Continue reading →
No, that’s not a joke title. See this: Between the months of May and September, tens of millions of migratory seabirds converge on the Arctic where they eat, breed and poop. Over time, the nitrogen in seabird droppings breaks down … Continue reading →
The leaves aren’t quite what they were just a week ago. But although there are fewer of them, some very beautiful ones still remain. It’s windy, and you can feel a nip in the air. Here are some photos I … Continue reading →
I was at the post office today and bought a set of stamps. The choices I was offered consisted of the basic one, and then a set of trucks versus a set of pets. Pressed for time, with a line … Continue reading →
More photos from Fall 2016 in New England, taken by me with nothing more fancy than my cell phone camera. This one could be any season (except winter), although the leaves on the ground are a giveaway, I guess: It … Continue reading →
This one: ”We go to college,” [Frost] wrote, ”to be given one more chance to learn to read in case we haven’t learned in high school.” He dropped out of both Harvard and Dartmouth, and married his high-school sweetheart with … Continue reading →
My ex-husband has been going through his papers, and yesterday he found something I thought had been long lost—a poem I had written as a 14-year-old sophomore in high school. How it came to be in his stuff I don’t … Continue reading →
I’m looking forward to it. The leaves are starting to turn. There’s a nip in the air, especially at night. And it’s time to reprise a few of the photos I took last year, on a memorable trip north to … Continue reading →
On the “literally” thread, commenter expat asked a burning question: Maybe you can help me figure out whether the duck who lives with my cousin’s chickens is literally transspecies. His egg was abandoned by his mother in the creek that … Continue reading →
And it’s not the first: Baracktrema obamai isn’t just any parasite. It’s so distinctive that it represents not just a new species but an entirely new genus… B. obamai is a flatworm that infects black marsh turtles and southeast Asian … Continue reading →
Apparently we have the ability to completely eliminate that very common pest, the mosquito, through genetic engineering: Powerful new gene-editing technologies could allow scientists to program mosquito populations to gradually shrink and die off. Some efforts have gained enough momentum … Continue reading →