A lot has happened since I last wrote a blog entry. I haven't really had time to indulge in the pleasure of writing for a couple of months. In a nutshell, a pandemic viral outbreak has happened, of course, and I—like so many people around the world—have retreated as much as I can into my … Continue reading Watching the grass grow—a pandemic spring at home
biology
Phenology and the arrival of spring
I haven't written anything on this blog for awhile. I got busy with work. I had bronchitis. I was also playing music and enjoying some downtime. My priority was completing (and even enjoying?) the many end-of-the-year academic tasks and celebrations that are part of my job and the rhythms of family life. And in the … Continue reading Phenology and the arrival of spring
Stories of heredity: “She Has Her Mother’s Laugh”
The title refers to a book I just finished reading. I'll tell you more in a moment. But first, I need to report "breaking news." Last night, while scrolling through my social media feeds, a cutesy entry from the pop culture website Buzzfeed showed up: "32 People That Look So Much Like Their Parent You'll … Continue reading Stories of heredity: “She Has Her Mother’s Laugh”
The under-appreciated lives of plants
Did you hear the news? If you've got romaine lettuce on hand in the United States, and you don't know where it came from (such as a local farm), you are being urged by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to throw it out. A batch of romaine lettuce from Yuma, Arizona has been contaminated … Continue reading The under-appreciated lives of plants
More tales of domesticity and aggression
Last summer, I read the book How to Tame a Fox, by Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut. I found the scientific story of fox genetics and domestication in the Soviet Union/Russia to be a compelling mix of biography, science, and politics. In June 2017, I wrote a blog post about the book and other … Continue reading More tales of domesticity and aggression
An animated view of life
It can be very difficult to visualize the inner structures of living things since we can't see them directly. Our own bodies hide mysteries that usually are revealed only to surgeons or with imaging techniques such as X-rays. But the tiniest components of life: the structures of cells, viruses, and molecules—such as DNA and proteins—can … Continue reading An animated view of life
