The Bad and the Beautiful

Botulism is deadly, but in minute quantities it smoothes wrinkles

Science: Why Bother?

Let me (a onetime history major) count the whys

Dark and Stormy Month

Now is the winter of our discontent, made bearable by the promise of sun

My Formerly Identical Twin

Genes are one thing, genetic switches another …

Toilet Talk, Part 2

New technology can save water and combat killer diseases

Herschel and the Steelheads

It’s time to bust the sea-lion party and save some Seattle salmon

Dabbling in Darwin

The polymathic Victorian is good company on a winter’s evening

Galileo’s Spyglass

The telescope resulted from his improvements to a mere curiosity

Science v. Poetry

Worlds apart, and yet alike in many ways

Toilet Talk, Part 1

More than a matter of waste not, want not

Remembering Steve

A tribute to my friend Stephen Jay Gould

Till We Meet Again

And thanks for dropping by

How Mauve Was Her Garment

The effect of coal tar on Queen Victoria’s gown

Saturn

How the sixth planet from the sun is like a rubber duck

Darwin’s Finches

In the Galápagos, a speed course on evolution

Our Artful Brain

What it takes to take in, say, a Picasso

How Flowers Changed the World

They still do, every spring

My Father

Those Other Ancestors

Neandertals were big, with bigger intellects than you might think

Our National Raptor

The bald eagle makes a big impression, but its voice is small

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