It was hard not to feel excited when the video footage landed in my inbox a few weeks ago. Researchers studying chimpanzees in the forests of Gabon’s Batéké Plateau National Park had captured footage of a solitary male lion on a remote camera – the first lion spotted in Gabon in 20 years. The national park was fairly young, established in 2002 as one of … Continue reading Success story or fluke? The forest lion of Gabon
Long ago and far away I was a field assistant studying bobolinks for one of my Cornell professors, Tom Gavin, as an undergraduate intern. I went out each morning into dew-drenched meadows at Cornell’s Biological Field Station at Shackelton Point on Oneida Lake, and watched tiny birds that had migrated thousands of miles from their winter home in South America to nest in upstate New … Continue reading Bird sex and bar stools
Maybe it was the frigid temperatures of the polar vortex. Or perhaps it was that crazy cocktail the bartenders at Busboys and Poets crafted specially for the DC Science Café. But as Paul Woods of SkyTruth spelled out the blunt future of environmental remote sensing – that soon nothing will be hidden from view – I thought about wilderness. In truth, I didn’t try the … Continue reading God’s eye view of God’s country
I first wrote about antibacterial soaps and personal care products more than a year ago after I erroneously bought antibacterial Q-Tips. Two recently released studies got me thinking about this topic again. In one, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined illness and death linked to antibiotic resistant “superbugs” and pinned the blame on hospitals and farms for their excessive antibiotic use. The other, … Continue reading Really? Microbe-free ears?
The irony was indeed cruel. My article on Obamacare and job lock had just been published in Pacific Standard. In it, I examined some of the economic research showing that, under the current system of health care, many Americans work in their jobs only for the health insurance. I shared some of my own experience making the leap from full time job to freelance consultant … Continue reading The price we pay
