When a 16-year-old from Plano, Texas has her research published in a peer-reviewed journal, I take notice. When the research supports my bias toward organic produce, I pay special attention. But her giving me a new appreciation of fruit flies…
Animals
#628 Birds-of-Paradise Project inspires awe
They have tramped through the jungles of New Guinea, Australia and nearby islands. They have hung precariously from trees. They have carried hundreds of pounds of photography gear. Thanks to the dogged efforts of Cornell Lab of Ornithology scientist Ed…
#621 Freshen your home with cow poo
Seriously, they want me to spray cow poo around my house after I’ve cooked something particularly malodorous? According to a post on Treehugger, that is exactly what Dwi Nailul Izzah and Rintya Aprianti Miki have in mind. The two bright…
#615 Youth’s simple invention saves lions
Lions were killing the Turere family’s cattle. Richard began looking after the livestock when he was only 9. Each day he would take them out to the field for grazing. In the evening he would pen them in the small…
#612 Oscar the cat attends dying patients
Oscar was still a kitten when he found an unusual forever home. When he was adopted from a Providence, Rhode Island, animal shelter, he was taken to a ward for end-stage dementia patients. He is likely one of the few…
#606 This bug is an artist
I bow before the superior artistry of the caddisfly larvae. The ubiquitous insects weave complex silken sheaths to protect themselves in the watery homes where they await transformation. My uncle fished trout streams any time he had a break from…
#594 Shelby’s happy chickens lay gold for the family
When multiple sclerosis landed pharmacist Nancy Grebenc in a nursing home, the family’s finances hit the skids. With bills mounting, nine-year-old Shelby hatched a plan to ease the strain. She would sell farm eggs. With a $1,000 loan from her…
#580 Life-saving chicken
Cluck Cluck the hen did not care that she had been given a ridiculous name. She didn’t care any more than Bonnie cared when I tucked her into my arms, grateful for her affection. What Cluck Cluck cared about was…
#549 Nature thrives in the Korean DMZ
Except for a South Korean rice village at its western end, the Korean Demilitarized Zone is an unpopulated, 4-km wide buffer zone separating the two Koreas. It was never intended to be an experiment in re-establishing diversity, but that is…
#541 Love without limits
The white dove lost his leg and became a resident of the Wild Rose Rescue Ranch in Texas, where he was named Noah. A family of rabbits was attacked by a dog. The mother was killed, and the three surviving…
