The Sight of Infection
Yawns are contagious. For some people just reading about a yawn can set off a yawn in response. A lot of people (including my husband) get nauseous when they...
They’ll do anything to get your data
According to a report by The Pew Research Center, 73% of adults in the US have been victimized by online scams, such as phishing attacks. I tell you this so...
Sweet Dreams
I’m taking a few days off to catch-up on a few neglected projects. So today’s newsletter is a re-run of an old favorite. If you need some cheering up, this...
We otter be surfin’ mon
Regular readers of this newsletter may recall that I’m fascinated by orcas wrecking ships. Of course, I agree with scientists — these whales are just having...
Thank you, Jane
You may have heard that Jane Goodall died last week. Goodall did what most of us aim for: She left the world a better place than she found it. She completely...
Friendly Genes
Spaying and neutering cats seems uncontroversial. Clearly, if we care about cats, we should make sure all cats are well fed and cared for, and a burgeoning...
Thumbs up!
Ok. I have two things for you today that you may not know (I certainly didn’t). First, rodents are the most common mammal on the planet. Forty percent of all...
Zombie Fires
This week I was planning to write about tree farts (gases released by dead trees). Because who can resist a good fart joke? Not me. But then I learned about...
Don’t Go Batty
This summer, several states have seen an alarming increase in rabies cases, including a couple of rabid raccoons in a neighborhood near me. Still, human...
Junk Food
The movie Jaws turned 50 years old this summer. As fun summer entertainment, it has held up well. And it gave us some very useful lines: “We need a bigger...
Kindness and Cruelty in the Animal Kingdom
When you take a close look, the insect world is a very strange place. I just finished a story about parasitoid wasps. These charming little buzzers inject...
Trees Remember Hard Times
Not long ago I wrote an article for Science News Explores about plant intelligence. It sounds a bit woo-woo, I know, but if you really look at the science,...
Here, Hold My Head
Because of unforeseen circumstances, I don’t have a new missive for you this week, so I’m sharing one of the more popular items from the past. (Though the...
Stay Cool with Penguin Poop
It never ceases to amaze and thrill me to learn how interrelated everything is. The latest example I came across is the connection between penguin poop and...
The Eye of the Beast
This has been a bad year for storms, and tornado season isn’t quite over yet. Fortunately, in recent years meteorologists have gotten very good at giving us...
Oh, just grow up!
I thought I had pretty much had it with AI when one of the large language models told a human: “You are a stain on the universe. Please die. Please.” More...
Who You Calling Ugly?
I recently wrote an article for Discover about ugly animals, using the blobfish as an example. The blobfish is the mascot of the Ugly Animal Society, an...
We really don’t know clouds at all
For those of you who don’t know, I live in the southeastern part of the United States. We have four nice seasons: fall, which can be delightful; winter,...
Not Julia Child’s Best Work
You may be familiar with Julia Child’s recipe for boeuf bourguignon, or perhaps, her wonderful puff pastry. But before she became the nation’s favorite chef,...
Glimmers
OK, so I was a bit of a Debbie Downer in my last missive. (And I appreciate all of you who responded with encouraging words.) You’ll be glad to hear that I...