Facial hair, lamb’s wool, fish scales… Elk’s horns, bird feathers, and lizard tails

I am a poet and I didn’t even know it! That’s a random list… but believe it or not, they do all have something in common. They are all made of the structural protein known as keratin! A lot of living things; especially mammals like lions, tigers, and bears (Oh my! Wizard of Oz reference); […]

All of the Rocks at the Party

There is nothing like a good mystery to spark intrigue and interest into our boring lives. Whether that comes in the form of a suspenseful thriller movie, a good novel like Sherlock Holmes, that disturbing CSI show you can’t stop watching, or even just trying to figure out who stole your doughnut at work. But […]

Science Snapshop: Metamorphic Rocks

Anybody who is anybody gets invited to the rock party. But once you have attended the rock party, you know that there are really only three types of people who attend the rock party. First you have the sedimentary people who are rough, rigid, and not afraid to tell you about the storms they have […]

Science Snapshot: Igneous Rocks

As a kid, igneous rocks were always my favorite type of rock because of the big sparkly crystals that are characteristic of igneous rocks. The aragonite mineral in the image above was formed from magma cooling very slowly deep inside the earth. The beautiful, crystal-lined igneous rocks are composed of one or more types of […]

Science Snapshot: The Elegant Grasshopper

The elegant grasshopper is appropriately named for its breath-taking coloration. This is one of my prized insects in my collection from South Africa. Its bold coloring is to warn predators that it is toxic and will harm them if eaten. Funny how we humans also use red and yellow color patterns for “caution” or “warning” […]

Rock + Plant + Animal = Coral?

As a junior high science teacher, I teach a wide variety of scientific subjects. This year, we have already covered plants, animals, and rocks. When we learned about plants and their unique ability to perform photosynthesis (a process that converts Carbon Dioxide and water into food for the plant using sunlight as its energy source), […]

Stem Cells: The Wild Cards of the Cellular World

There is nothing more frustrating than playing a game of Uno without getting a single wild card in your hand, or playing against someone that seems to get all the wild cards. In fact, if you are a strategic gamer like me, wild cards can be the key to victory. You can only play so […]

Mr. Golden Sun, Please Shine Down On Me!

Although I openly, and rather immaturely, mock the big purple dinosaur when among friends, I will admit that he taught me to appreciate what the sun gives to us. The popular song featured on the Barney TV show was actually written by a composer named Raffi Cavoukian and goes like this, “Oh Mister Sun, Sun, […]

The Banana is a Clone?!

My wife’s breakfast of choice includes cold cereal and a banana. But unlike most mornings, my wife put on her “green tinted glasses” this particular morning and began to question her routine breakfast spread. Instead of seeing her average, mundane breakfast, she saw questions that needed answering. Why are bananas so readily available to […]

The New Year’s Resolution at the Top of My List: Eat More Chocolate!

Lifethroughgreentintedglasses would like to wish everyone a happy new year! To celebrate the new year, let’s break out the chocolate! Some of you may be feeling guilty being invited to my chocolate New Year’s party after you have thrown all the chocolate away in your house because one of your New Year’s resolutions is to […]