Every paradise has its snake, as Adam and Eve learned to their chagrin.
A Greater Antillean Boa • Photo by Jan P Zegarra (Public Domain)
The green flash at sunrise • Photo by Luis Argerich (CC BY-NC 2.0)
The quest for the flash
Morning. The sky mostly clear to the far horizon, just a few wisps of cloud far out there over the sea where the sun will soon rise. The air is tinged pink, orange, and yellow, like layers of sugar icing on the turquoise sea.
Photo by Antonio Borriello from Pexels
Mr. Computer tackles the Y2K bug
Dear Mr. Computer, All we hear about these days is the Y2K bug, and how it’s going to cause havoc at the end of this year. What is the bug, and how can I avoid it?
Walden Pond in Concord, MA • Photo by Eric T (CC BY-ND 2.0)
For wildness, hope lies in reality, not romanticism
“In wildness is the preservation of the world,” said Thoreau, and his felicitous phrase has become something of a mantra for conservationists.
Photo by Thomas Kinto on Unsplash
Things too beautiful not to be true
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” wrote John Keats.
New England, awash in light pollution • NASA (Public Domain)
Washed away in a sea of light
A few weeks ago I was with a group of students from MIT and Salem State College under clear dark skies at the Caribbean Marine Research Center in the Bahamas.
Photo by Michelle Leman from Pexels
Getting personal in the lab
As a Valentine’s week service to our readers, this column again offers personal ads from science and technology professionals.
Skull of Australopithecus africanus • Photo by Emőke Dénes (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Tiny clues, big answers
Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? To ask these questions is to be human.
Illustration of Cortinarius torvus by Beatrix Potter
Barred from science
No children’s book author is more revered than Beatrix Potter.
Photo by Visual Stories || Micheile on Unsplash
Trading years for tears, and loving it
“You’ll be the death of me yet.” What parent hasn’t said that to a child. Or at least thought it.