I saw the April 2025 Gray’s Sporting Journal, last night. It was Steve’s old book review gig some 30+ years ago. Teresa Mull does it now. I was surprised that Camuto did it for 30 years. Fifty years. It is an honor and privilege to say I’ve spent the past 30 years here at Gray’s …
Botany of Empire book
Modes of reproduction in the plant kingdom are not binary, she explains, but far more diverse. She makes a compelling case that plants do not have sex. And she observes that the xenophobic anxieties surrounding immigration and invasive species make for a telling parallel. Sounds like it might have interesting observations. Since Botany of Empire is …
I hope so.
Using their new approach, the researchers successfully created 50 cm² graphene membranes—far larger than what was previously feasible—with near-perfect integrity. The membranes demonstrated exceptional CO2 selectivity and high gas permeance, meaning they efficiently let CO2 through while blocking unwanted gases. Moreover, by optimizing the oxidation process, they were able to increase the density of CO2-selective pores, further …
Car Hawking
More Kestrels Car Hawking @iowa_gamehawker’s American Kestrel is named Mango, and Mango is making short work of invasive starlings in these drive-by hits – what a badass bird 🦅 ••• From: @iowa_gamehawker ••• “Mango’s 4th starling catch! It was a long road to get him to understand the game, but since he caught his first …
When hair trigger reflexes matter.
When hair trigger reflexes matter. How many times has this played out over millions of years. Crocs go way, way back to the time of the dinosaurs. Our ancestors knew this scene all too well. I remember Don Thomas writing about hunting a 10 foot wide African waterhole and being warned about the giant croc …
Denisovan mandible found
A fossil mandible (Penghu 1: 19,000 to 10,000 years ago) was discovered on the seabed of the Penghu Channel in Taiwan and reported as the first and oldest hominin fossil from Taiwan in 2015. Penghu 1 has distinct morphological characters and retains archaic features, but its taxonomic identity was unknown. Attempts were made to extract …
Chief Mountain – The Lewis Thrust
Rising more than 4,000 feet above the plains, Chief Mountain demands attention and has long played a prominent role in the cultures of indigenous people. The peak is called Ninaistaki by the Blackfeet and is the sacred home to the creator of thunder. It typically appeared on early maps of the area, and in 1901 …
Crinoid Colony
This is one of the most spectacular fossils you’ll ever see. Ever! This Jurassic giant measures over 100 square meters and took 18 years to clean and prepare! Can we applaud the patience and effort. It is appropriately 180 million years old and comes from Holzmaden, Germany. On display at the excellent Hauff Museum. I …
Martian Lichens
Red Mars by Robinson, Kim Stanley One of the few things I remember from this series is how lichens were a key start in terraforming Mars. Life imitates art below? Published in the journal IMA Fungus, a new study highlights the potential for lichens to survive and function on the Martian surface, challenging previous assumptions about the uninhabitable nature …
The Anthropocene wins.
So how much of the planet is already covered by novel ecosystems like these? Some analyses have arrived at startling figures – in a 2013 book on novel ecosystems, researchers argued that 30-40% of the world’s terrestrial ecosystems have already transformed into novel states. A study by Svenning projected that half of the land on the planet would …