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); […]

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 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 […]

This Planet’s Ultimate Survivalist: The Water Bear!

Last week, in commemoration of the harsh cold winter season, I wrote about an organism that could not only survive incredible temperature extremes but could also keep on ticking after nuclear warfare, unfathomable amounts of UV radiation, and even a zombie apocalypse. Endospore forming bacteria would win almost all survivalist battles. However, today I want […]