Oil-eating bacteria have started to clean the Deepwater Horizon spillAugust 24, 2010 – In the Gulf of Mexico, nature’s janitors are hard at work, mopping up the aftermath of a man-made disaster. On 20 April, 2010, an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig unleashed the largest oil spill in US history. Now, a team of American scientists led by Terry Hazen have shown that just a month or […]
World’s Greenest MuseumSeptember 26, 2008 – The “living roof” of the new California Academy of Sciences Museum, by Tim Griffith The California Academy of Sciences will reopen this weekend as the greenest museum in the world. Located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the revamped, gargantuan CAS is an aquarium, digital planetarium, natural history museum, and four-story rain forest all rolled…
Update: Manahatta at the World Science Festival at a New Location SundayJune 12, 2009 – As I mentioned earlier, as part of the World Science Festival, I’ll be talking Sunday with Eric Sanderson, an ecologist who has just published the book Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City, based on his remarkable project to map out the ecosystems of New York on the eve of the arrival of Europeans. […]
Ganlea megacania and more “missing link” maniaJuly 01, 2009 – A somewhat tamarin-like restoration of Ganlea megacania. By Mark A. Klingler of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It seems that almost every time a new fossil primate is announced the first question everyone asks is “Is it one of our ancestors?” Nevermind that it is all but impossible to identify direct ancestors and descendants […]
Vintage National Park PostersMay 27, 2010 – Our pals over at the National Geographic Travel & Cultures site have just put together an excellent online package that looks at the current state of our national parks. The series of articles spans the history of the parks and National Geographic’s unique role within it, and provides updates on some of the major issues…
It’s not about faithDecember 28, 2009 – “Yeah, well like they say, it takes as much faith to believe in science as religion.” I had just been suckerpunched. After spending the last several minutes explaining evolution and its relevance to the history of our species I was hit between the eyes with that old one-liner. Even worse, there was no time to […]
What do you think?July 18, 2008 – Over the course of the past year I’ve had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of many paleontologists and illustrators of prehistoric life, people who have helped me with their comments, criticism, and support. One such person whose work I admire is Matt Celeskey, the artist (and blogger) behind the Hairy Museum of Natural History. […]
We Are All Made of Stars: Amazing Photos From Journey to the StarsJuly 01, 2009 – Text by Caroline Hirsch In the early universe, only 300 million years after the Big Bang, the first stars form from clouds of gas drawn together by the gravity of the mysterious substance called dark matter. See more photos below. All images courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History We are all made of…
Cave Art in CrisisJuly 10, 2008 – The world-famous bulls, horses, and reindeer in France’s Lascaux cave have survived in pristine condition for 17,000 years, but they may be history soon. Priceless cave art in different parts of the world is suffering from the inadvertent actions of tourists who come to see it, and officials are struggling to find solutions. In southern…
Belize: Trouble in ParadiseJuly 29, 2009 – The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System is a wonder. Inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1996, it’s home to sea turtles, manatees, and American marine crocodiles. It represents the “evolutionary history of reef development” and includes 450 cayes and three atolls. The reserve is part of the Mesoamerican Reef, which is the second largest…
Oh To Be In EnglandApril 04, 2004 – This week I am in England to give some talks about Soul Made Flesh, which has just been published here. In addition to talking on the BBC, I’ll be talking at Blackwell’s in Bristol on Tuesday, and at the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University on Wednesday. I’ve posted details and links […]
The Dead Do Tell TalesSeptember 08, 2009 – The skull of a brown bear (Ursus arctos), photographed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The next time someone watches my apartment I will have to post a warning about the skulls. A few are in plain sight, like a badger skull on the bookshelf and a comparative set of small animal crania […]
Hello Boston: Coming to the Museum of Science, April 17April 05, 2010 – I’ll be giving a talk at the Museum of Science in Boston on Saturday, April 17. It’s the keynote address at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Academy of Science. I’m going to talk about spangled dinosaurs, how scientists are splashing colors all over the history of life, and what all that color can tell […]
Book Review: The Rise of HorsesFebruary 08, 2010 – Almost two decades ago vertebrate paleontologist Bruce MacFadden published his monograph Fossil Horses, an instant classic that was as much about new approaches in paleontology as the equids considered in the book. For over a century the family history of horses had been depicted as some of the best, most-accessible evidence for evolution the fossil […]
World Class: Turkey – Now Dig ThisOctober 07, 2009 – The eastern Mediterranean is a land so steeped in history (Phoenician, Babylonian, Persian—the list goes on) that nearly every rock-strewn trail reveals a story of trade, conquest, and religion. Slip into the past at Yunak Evleri in Turkey’s Cappadocia region, once a crossroads for more than a dozen civilizations. Dating back to the fifth century,…
Blind Cousins to the Arthropod SuperstarsFebruary 10, 2010 – Suddenly this obscure, blind cave dweller has become extremely interesting. It turns out to be a close cousin of the most diverse group of animals on Earth, the insects. Insects–all one-million-plus-species of them–belong to a lineage of animals called arthropods. The arthropods emerged early in the history of animals, and while many of the early […]