Evolutionary Mash-up: Australian Box Jellyfish

*To gain a greater appreciation for this post, be sure to read the previous “Evolutionary Mash-ups” posts about giraffe necks, dragonfly wings, and chameleon tongues. I take the best adaptations natural selections has to offer and combine them into one animal. At the end of this post I will combine all four “Evolutionary Mash-ups” animals […]

Evolutionary Mash-ups: Veiled Chameleon Tongue

*To gain a greater appreciation for the post, be sure to read the previous “Evolutionary Mash-ups” posts about giraffe necks and dragonfly wings. I take the best adaptations natural selections has to offer and combine them into one animal. At the end of the month, check out my post where I combine all four “Evolutionary […]

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 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 […]

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 Christmas Tree

Putting up the Christmas tree every year can be a hassle, but it truly would not be Christmas in my home without one. Humanity has used fir trees (or similar conifers) as part of their celebration of Christmas for thousands of years. So even though there are few things in this world as frustrating as […]

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 […]

Best way to survive the end of the world… Endospores of course!

As Christmas approaches, the weather around here changes dramatically. I have to give myself an extra 10 minutes in the morning just so I can scrape my car windshield and possibly traverse through adverse winter conditions. As I step outside into the bitter cold every morning, I wonder how long I could actually survive in […]

The Trickery and Deceptions of Light Part 2

While researching the crazy cool things that light does last week, I realized I had way too much material to cover it all in one week… So here we are! Part two of how light can dazzle, entertain, and deceive us. I hope you enjoy! Water Puddle Mirages: As a young boy many years ago […]