Mary Ellen Hannibal
Encouraging Conservation Through Communication
Two Jackson Wild fellows on what we can learn from the birds.
It’s a Family Affair
A new film dives into the intricate lives of giant sperm whales.
David Attenborough’s Life in Color
New technology enables filmmakers to capture how animals use color like never before.
How Surprising Connections Can Save the Ocean
Marine biologist Heather Koldewey on conservation, seahorses, and cross-discipline work.
Why We Should Eat Crickets. And Other Bug Ideas
As the human population expands, we are going to have to find better ways to feed ourselves without further decimating the environment.Photograph by Koldunova Anna / Shutterstock In his new book, The Butterfly Effect: Insects and the Making of the Modern World, Edward Melillo calls some insects “little laboratories,” the various productions of which have […]
3-D Printed Statues in Central Park Shine a Light on Women Scientists
A new exhibit in Central Park features six statues of women scientists—the first statues of real women to be found in the park.Courtesy of Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ IF/THEN Initiative Forged in metal or chiseled in stone, statues almost always depict dead men. A recent analysis of 12 major American cities turned up only six physical […]
Do Butterflies Challenge the Meaning of Species?
Hybridization, it turns out, plays a pivotal role in how life forms evolve. The tree of life may never look the same.Photograph by sezer66 / Shutterstock What is a species? It’s a question that has agonized scientists since well before Darwin. With some exceptions, the thinking has landed on an evidently firm reproductive barrier: Members […]
Butterfly Wonk Robert Pyle Pens His First Novel 44 Years in the Making
Ecologist Robert Michael Pyle’s imaginative treatment of the nonhuman world—he includes a butterfly and a mountain among his cast of characters—is both a surprise and perhaps a natural result of his artistic development.Counterpoint Press The acclaimed author, naturalist, and ecologist Robert Michael Pyle has been investigating the butterfly for about 60 years. In that time […]
Braces Have Made Snoring a Modern Health Problem
Over the ages our teeth and our tongue have become ever more crowded by the shrinking of the human jaw. Not only is this an aesthetic disaster, but it compromises our breathing, which in turn can disrupt sleep. And there, our problems really begin.Photograph by Lisa S. / Shutterstock The apotheosis of my five-year orthodontic […]
Speak, Butterfly
Butterflies tied together Vladimir Nabokov’s home, science, and writing.
