On the planet of a yellow star in the outer arms of a spiral galaxy live a race of creatures called Manders.
Evolution
Tiger salamander • Photo by Peter Paplanus (CC BY 2.0)
Starflower • Photo by Matthieu Gauvain (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The miracle that gives life its shape
There is a certain magic moment in the spring woods near my house when the ladyslippers and starflowers bloom together.
American eel • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (CC BY 2.0)
The incredible journey of Walden’s white eel
This is the story of the white eel of Walden. It is a story that seems appropriate for this season of miracles.
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
Is there life in your computer?
This is the Nineties, right? Not only must we protect ourselves from germs. We must also guard our computers.
Photo by Bjoertvedt (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The inside story on adder sex
It is time to present the Second Annual Gullible Gull Award for the most bizarre scientific research of the past year involving experimentation with animals.
Artist's reconstruction of Hallucigenia sparsa • Image by Joshua Evans (CC BY-SA 4.0)
No one knows which way is up
This is the tale of topsy-turvy Hallucigenia, a little animal that doesn’t know which way is up. It is also a tale of scientific riddles and how they are solved.
Photo by Hannah Jacobson on Unsplash
Who’s chasing whom?
Recently, there has been a spate of letters to Ann Landers from moms concerned about sexually aggressive girls pursuing their teenaged sons — little temptresses hanging out on the front stoop, or calling in the middle of the night, that sort of thing. Don’t these girls know, the mothers ask, that it’s a boy’s role to do the chasing?
A spring peeper • Photo by Justin Meissen (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The annual spring peeper hocus pocus
The spring peepers are in full fortissimo chorus.
US Department of Energy (Public Domain)
The real story of nuclear winter and the dinosaurs’ demise
Rumors have been flying that paleontologist Robert (Ace) Hayprel has found dinosaur fossils that will revolutionize our views about how those creatures became extinct 65 million years ago.
Rufous Fantail feeding Brush Cuckoo • Photo by Damien.cook.frog (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Birds of a different feather
Consider the cuckoo. When the female cuckoo is ready to lay, she seeks a bird of another species that is building a nest — a reed warbler, say. The cuckoo perches on a nearby branch and waits.