Silverbelle Babsje publishes a great blog focusing on herons and other graceful birds. Here's a recent example: https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com/ She's also a keen observer of the Silverback Digest. Our recent post on Henry David Thoreau prompted her to share her own thoughts on the man: Walden Pond is a grounded space, a grounding place that I... Continue Reading →
The Outside Story By Jen Weimer Why do ants suddenly appear every time Spring is near? Just like bees, they long to be close to you – especially if your home is made of wood. Carpenter ants (genus Camponotus) and the eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) both nest in wood and are frequent visitors to... Continue Reading →
Islanders have long claimed ape-like humans, remarkably similar to the fossil species Homo floresiensis, survive in secluded forests of Indonesia. An anthropologist investigates why. By GREGORY FORTH 26 APR 2023 Excerpted from Between Ape and Human: An Anthropologist on the Trail of a Hidden Hominoid by Gregory Forth. Pegasus Books, 2022. All rights reserved. ✽ DURING ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK on the... Continue Reading →
Today's selection -- from Selected Works: Walden, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Walking by Henry David Thoreau. In his influential book, Walden, Thoreau celebrates the sensations of nature: "This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of... Continue Reading →
by Susan Shea Years ago, when I worked at a nature center in Connecticut licensed to care for injured and orphaned wildlife, a baby opossum was brought to us. It was found lying on a golf course, and was too young to be on its own. We named the opossum Alice and estimated it was... Continue Reading →
[This will go well with your morning coffee. This is for a the gourmets in The Jungle who want a break from leaves and bananas. SB SM] https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-kiviaq?ref=thebrowser.com For many in northwest Greenland, the iconic flavor of winter is that of fermented meat, perhaps most iconically kiviaq, a dish made by packing 300 to 500 whole dovekies—beaks,... Continue Reading →
The "Most Annoying Song Ever Made" ... Nominate Your (Least) Favorite!! Red Rubber Ball? ... Sugar, Sugar? ... Yummy, Yummy, Yummy ...? MacArthur Park? ... Little Red, Rented Rowboat? What popular song drove you crazy, in all the wrong ways. Here's your chance for revenge. What's the most annoying song ever to hit the airwaves?... Continue Reading →
[Today we are taking a break from our ongoing contemplation of the mystery of the thermos (It keeps hot things hot and cold things cold ... How do it know?) to contemplate bats, and echolocation. SB SM] Today's selection -- from An Immense World by Ed Yong. Understanding the complexity of echolocation in bats: "There are more than 1,400... Continue Reading →
from Hakai Magazine, March 13, 2023 by Nicola Jones Seaweed farming is experiencing a boom around the world, particularly in northern climates such as in North America where kelps—large brown algae—are the crop of choice. Here, seaweed farmers harvest sugar kelp from a farm site in coastal British Columbia. Photo courtesy of Cascadia Seaweed Offshore... Continue Reading →
[ What? ... Cutback on bananas? I don't think so. Whoever heard of a skinny Silverback. Still ... it makes some sense. SB SM] Today's selection -- from Lifespan: Why We Age -- and Why We Don't Have To by David A. Sinclair, PhD. For decades, scientists have known that restricting calorie intake is a reliable path for... Continue Reading →
