Brandon keim

24 articles
  • Keim_HERO

    Never Underestimate the Intelligence of Trees

    Plants communicate, nurture their seedlings, and get stressed.

  • Keim-HERO

    What Pigeons Teach Us About Love

    The sweet, avian romance of Harold and Maude.

  • chimp picking flowers in water

    Chimps and the Zen of Falling Water

    There is a waterfall in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. Maybe 12 feet high, it’s fairly modestly sized, though even a modest waterfall is quite a magical thing. And it’s here that chimpanzees come to dance. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . You can watch a video online, narrated by […]

  • Dianthidium floridiense

    Forget the Ordinary Honeybee; Look at the Beautiful Bees They’re Crowding Out

    All of the images in this post are borrowed from the amazing Flickr feed of the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Any day now, the apple trees on my deck will bloom, bringing with them the first honeybees of spring. It’s a […]

  • Article Image

    The Hated, Invasive Parasite That’s Actually a Key Part of Its Ecosystem

    Sea lampreys showing off their unusual mouthsJoanna Gilkeson/USFWS Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Several years ago, a young man bow-fishing on New Jersey’s Raritan river spotted a long, thin creature in the murky water. He shot the animal through the neck, reeled it in, and posed for photographs. […]

  • NOAA February temp anomaly

    Wild-Winter Whodunnit—Climate Change Over the U.S. With a Slow Jet Stream?

    This map produced by NOAA shows the land-surface temperature anomaly: how the temperature deviated from normal, on average, over the month. The darkest red areas were 12 degrees Celsius (22 degrees Fahrenheit) above average, while the darkest blue areas were 12 degrees Celsius below average.NOAA Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join […]

  • passenger pigeon eggs de-extinction hero

    To Bring Back Extinct Species, We’ll Need to Change Our Own

    Passenger pigeon eggs at the Maine State MuseumBrandon Keim; displayed courtesy of Paula Work, registrar & curator of zoology at the museum Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . The last passenger pigeon died just over a century ago, though they’ve lived on as symbols—of extinction’s awful finality, and also […]
  • Keim_HERO-1

    The Wild, Secret Life of New York City

    Get back to nature, right in your own neighborhood.
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    Evolution’s Contrarian Capacity for Creativity

    The easily confused willow tit and black-capped chickadeef.c.franklin via Flickr / Brandon Keim Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . One of my favorite pastimes while traveling is watching birds. Not rare birds, mind you, but common ones: local variations on universal themes of sparrow and chickadee, crow and mockingbird.I […]
  • Keim_HERO-2

    Decoding Nature’s Soundtrack

    The health of an ecosystem in the Earth’s own words.
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    The Salamander That Has Photosynthesis Happening Inside It

    Spotted salamander young come pre-equipped with photosynthetic algae, which are visible in their eggs.Courtesy of Roger Hangarter / University of Indiana Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Amidst life’s profligate swapping and sharing and collaborating, one union stands out: the symbiosis of spotted salamanders and the algae living inside […]