The Cetacea—whales, dolphins and porpoises—are obligate water dwellers and must make a conscious effort to surface and breathe. How do cetaceans manage to get any sleep in the water or while swimming?
Sea Glass When I was growing up, collecting sea glass was a favorite beach pastime in New England, the wave-tumbled cabochons in hues of aquamarine, amethyst, and cobalt glass hinting at a bygone era
BORN OF EARTH & FIRE Glass is born of earth and fire, and our modern world would be unrecognizable without this remarkable material in our lives. Most people think of glass only as a manufactured
CRYSTAL SILICA ROCKS! Twelve different crystal modifications of silica are known, the most common being quartz. It is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth’s continental crust, and it is a maj
GLASS IN NATURE: GEOLOGIC ORIGINS This dramatic image captures volcanic glass in the making in Iceland! A long-dormant volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland flared to life last March
Meteorites This stunning photo of the Milky Way over the dunes of White Sands National Park was part of an invitation to join park rangers in August 2021 to observe this year’s spectacular Perseid Met
ANTARCTICA’S ASUKA (A)-12236 METEORITE During a 2012 expedition to Antarctica, a team of Japanese and Belgian researchers picked up a small rock that appeared coal black against the icy snow. Now know
CHEMISTRY OF LIFE: CARBONACEOUS METEORITE FOOTPRINTS We know that the chemistry of life runs on organic compounds—molecules containing carbon and hydrogen, but also oxygen, nitrogen, silica and a host
IMPACT CRATERS The meteorites, comets and asteroids that have slammed into Earth have done so with a force many times greater than the most powerful nuclear bombs ever created by humans. There are rou
DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH Throughout its history, Earth has been repeatedly hit by large meteorites. Of the more than 60,000 meteorites that have been discovered on Earth, most come from the Asteroid Belt
Every so often, in researching the topics for our ePostcard series, I discover a book that deserves special mention for the sheer pleasure of reading good writing interwoven with excellent science. I’
For the naturalist, the dramatic coastlines, windswept steppes and spectacular cordilleras of Patagonia need little introduction. From Ferdinand Magellan to Charles Darwin and beyond, explorers’ journ
There are only a few places on Earth where you can imagine the ground shifting beneath your feet, where the dynamic natural forces shaping our planet are never at rest. Patagonia is one of those place
The extraordinary ice-sculpted scenery that captures the heart and imagination of everyone who visits Patagonia is the legacy of millions of years of glaciation and erosion. The Patagonian Ice Sheet o
When viewed from the air, the snow-covered volcanoes of the Andes rise skyward like sentinels as they guard their mountain stronghold. The first time I saw Volcán Osorno I couldn’t help but think of t
I subscribe to the stewardship vision best expressed by the great Senegalese environmentalist Baba Dioum—we are moved to conserve what we understand and love. Every so often, in researching the topics
Charles Darwin’s made a series of fossil giant mammal discoveries in South America during the Beagle’s voyage that would revolutionize his worldview, shaping his understanding of extinction, and helpi
When I view all beings not as special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few beings which lived long before the first bed of the Cambrian system was deposited, they seem to me to become
I often struggle in trying to explain my abiding fascination with geology. In summarizing his own explorations into Earth’s intricacies, the acclaimed author John McPhee once wrote, “If by some fiat I
Charles Darwin’s discovery of several species of extinct giant mammals, the now celebrated South American megafauna of the last Ice Age, played a key role in the development of his most important cont
There are currently 20 living species of armadillo, and they all share a feature unique among modern mammals—beneath their outer scaly case is an inner shell made up of hundreds of ....
Dateline: December 3, 2020. A major discovery at the archeological site of Cerro Azul in the Serranía La Lindosa, Colombia, provides proof that the Amazon rainforest’s earliest inhabitants lived along
Ask any child to name an extinct animal, and most will tell you the name of their favorite dinosaur. But if you ask them what the word “extinction” means, and if it is forever, their answers are under
Human activity has fundamentally transformed our planet. We live on every continent and have directly affected at least 83% of the planet’s viable land surface. Our actions have impacted everything fr
Travel with Cloud Ridge to a remote island world—the beautiful and storm-battered archipelago of Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands)—the ancestral home of the Haida people (pronounced “
According to Haida legend, Raven found himself alone one day on Rose Spit beach, on Haida Gwaii. Suddenly, he saw an extraordinary clamshell at his feet, and protruding from it were a number of small
Whenever I need visual inspiration for writing about the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest, I turn to my personal library and the hauntingly beautiful images taken by Edward Sherriff Curtis (
The peopling of the Americas, from the Arctic tundra to the fjords of Tierra del Fuego, remains one of humanity’s greatest achievements, a feat of unparalleled endurance and adaptation to some of the
Imagine for a magical Ice Age moment that you are traveling across the vast expanse of Beringia. You have reached the eastern edge of the known world. You are watching woolly mammoths taking advantage
Nothing is more important to life on Earth than the Sun. When I think about the annual Earth-Sun orbit that launches the beginning of each new year, I’m fascinated by all the ways in which Earth’s epi
Jet lag is a physiological condition that results from alterations to the human body’s circadian rhythms caused by rapid, long-distance trans-meridian travel (east–west or west–east). Jet lag is most
We are all guilty of sacrificing a few hours of sleep to finish an exciting project, a good book, or to meet work deadlines. Quoting from neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s recent book—Keep Sharp: Build
Blue whales are the largest animals ever to live on our planet. Adults are up to 110 feet in length and weigh up to 330,000. They feed almost exclusively on krill, straining huge volumes of ocean wate
Trying to understand—fathoming—the lives of cetaceans (whales, dophins and porpoises) deepens our connection with the natural world. Their remarkable physiological and behavioral adaptations continue
Once you look—really look—into the eye of a whale you never forget the experience. The connection is profound and, for some, life changing. As a naturalist guide for the past four decades, I’ve been g
In early December of 1846, the American whaler Hibernia, with Captain Smith at the helm, sought a safe anchorage beyond the reach of a fierce winter storm and sailed into the entrance of Bahía Magdale
Most people know Charles Darwin as the founding father of the science of evolution, and as the indefatigable naturalist who gave us our first insights into the fantastic diversity of life on Earth and
All mammals and birds sleep, benefiting in profound ways from restorative sleep adaptations that support energy conservation, physiological processes, metabolism, immune functions, memory, and learnin
