It never hurts to celebrate, again, the oddities of life on Earth. Here’s a piece about a discovery reported in 2017 that reminds us of our humble beginnings. Our microscopic relative might have looked like this. The fossil, waaaaay bigger than real life. Let’s get down to brass tacks. Mouth. Anus. Reproductive bit in between. […]
Miscellaneous
Confession: I, like so many of my fellow Americans, am not getting enough sleep. Blame the baby. Blame the preschooler. Blame COVID anxiety. Blame my doomscrolling. Blame the dog, who threw up a clump of grass next to the bed at 4am. On a typical night, I sleep between six and seven hours with two […]
I am writing this post from bed. I can’t get up, because (shhhh) there’s a kitten purring on my chest. We picked her up from the animal shelter yesterday. There were dozens of kittens vying for adoption, but as soon as I felt her nudge my hand — polite but insistent, green eyes steady — […]
When one of the founders of conservation biology passed this week at 84, I heard it was peaceful, that he was ready. I imagine Michael Soulé’s heart and breath stopping and an incredible release of feathers and bones, colors of a million beetles, a rush of eyes of countless shapes. You might say he ushered […]
This huge bug hurled itself at me the other day and missed. It landed just to my left, on the wooden deck, and there it stayed—long enough for me to spend a little time admiring it. Alaus oculatus is what it was, and likely still is these few days later, named for its false “eyes.” […]
This week, as protesters have taken to the streets to demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black people murdered at the hands of the police, local bail funds have been inundated with donations. One of my favorite tweets calling for people to take action: An earlier version of that sentiment appealed […]
The cell phone rang at 9:21 p.m. on a weekday. I almost didn’t answer. Unfamiliar number. Late in the evening. Probably an automated voice expressing urgency about the viability of my automobile insurance—never mind that I don’t own a car. But then: Why not? You never know. So I answered. And I heard the magic […]
