
Coffee's Caffeine Buzz Evolved Separately from Tea's
Genome of the robusta variety reveals that caffeine-making evolved more than once, in part because pollinators developed a caffeine habit

Coffee's Caffeine Buzz Evolved Separately from Tea's
Genome of the robusta variety reveals that caffeine-making evolved more than once, in part because pollinators developed a caffeine habit

Is There a Future for Wilderness?
Wilderness is dead, long live the Wilderness Act. On Sept. 3, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson and the U.S. Congress signed into law the Wilderness Act.


Scraping the Seafloor for Fish Harms Biodiversity
Bottom trawling reduces seafloor species and disrupts carbon storage

No, Humans Have Not Stopped Evolving
For 30,000 years our species has been changing remarkably quickly. And we're not done yet

Tiny Genetic Differences between Humans and Other Primates Pervade the Genome
Genome comparisons reveal the DNA that distinguishes Homo sapiens from its kin

Ancient DNA Could Return Passenger Pigeons to the Sky
Genetic engineering could restore the once profuse North American bird after a century or more of extinction

A Hangout with Google Science Fair in Swaziland
You know what’s awesome? Seeing a bunch of young people at work on changing the world to make it a better place for all. Today, I hosted a Google Science Fair Hangout On Air on Sustainability in Swaziland, and I got to have that privilege.

Exploring the Vast Nuthatch Empire
Today I'd like to focus on passerine birds again, and this time on a group that I don't think I've ever blogged about before: the certhioids.

How Book Scorpions Tend to Your Dusty Tomes
Book scorpions are the best/worst thing to happen to books, because book scorpions! But also book scorpions... Properly known as pseudoscorpions, these tiny, tiny creatures have a fondness for old books, because old books also happen to contain delicious booklice and dust mites.

How the Jaguar Saved My Life [Excerpt]
A love of the jaguar helped inspire one of the world's leading proponents for saving big cats

Science Media Beset With Gender Gaps
In the fall of 2005, I and a couple hundred other new students at Columbia University's journalism school walked into a lecture hall for a series of welcome speeches, and two things happened that impressed me.

Studying the Tree Tops with Arboreal Ecologist "Canopy Meg"
Margaret Lowman, who also goes by the nickname “Canopy Meg,” is chief of science and sustainability at the California Academy of Sciences.