Monthly Archives: June 2014

One of the Big Ideas in Biology that has grown clearer and more compelling to me over the years was very well expressed by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel back in the Nineteenth Century: “Nothing is constant but change. All … Continue reading →

Seven years ago a blast of straight-line winds from a passing thunderstorm knocked down eight, fifty year old spruce trees on the west side of our house. The loss of these trees took away most of our afternoon shade out … Continue reading →

In the May 1, 2014 on-line edition of “The Scientist” there was a short article entitled “Dog’s Worst Friend.” The article wasn’t about fleas or ticks or any other obvious parasites or pathogens that afflict our best friends. Instead, the … Continue reading →

The essence of science is making observations and then constructing models that explain those observations. Once your model is established you then test it (this is the “experiment” part of the scientific process) and then re-write it or throw it … Continue reading →