Author Archives: elsa
Biodiversity’s Invisible Palette
from American Scientist July-August 2012 Tropical ecologists have a long tradition of tromping through the forest in rubber boots, tracking the fates of individual trees and perhaps scaling some of these 50-meter giants to sample their foliage. But forests—and the … Continue reading
Decoding a Flower’s Message
from American Scientist July-August 2012 Texas gourd vines unfurl their large, flared blossoms in the dim hours before sunrise. Until they close at noon, their yellow petals and mild, squashy aroma attract bees that gather nectar and shuttle pollen from … Continue reading
In the News: Leaping Labidocera!
from American Scientist July-August 2012 When threatened by fish, some marine plankton leap through the air to safety. Researchers studied this previously undocumented behavior in two species of copepods (tiny crustaceans) that swim near the ocean’s surface. Although breaking the … Continue reading
Insect Escape Artists
Book review in American Scientist May-June, 2012 How Not to Be Eaten: The Insects Fight Back. Gilbert Waldbauer. xiv + 221 pp. University of California Press, 2012. $27.95. Rarely does one have reason to compare a moth and a croquet … Continue reading
In the News: Birth of the Little Ice Age
from American Scientist May-June 2012 Scientists have been uncertain about the specific timing and causes of Europe’s Little Ice Age (LIA), a chilly period that started sometime during the Renaissance and lasted until the mid-19th century. To better document the … Continue reading
A Fly’s Imperfect Disguise
from ScienceNOW Daily News March 21, 2012 The fly on the left is a puzzle. In theory, it should have evolved to look just as wasplike as the one on the right, the better to ward off hungry birds. But … Continue reading
Why Butterflies Sleep Together
from ScienceNOW Daily News March 20, 2012 When it’s time to settle in for the night, red postman butterflies (Heliconius erato) often roost in groups of four or five. To figure out why, researchers hung several thousand fake versions of … Continue reading
The Other Honey
from American Scientist March-April 2012 In rural Ghana, stingless bees are well known as useful animals. Farmers raid natural hives to collect honey, which they use to treat ailments from eye infections to asthma. Many say the bees improve crop … Continue reading
In the News: Teaching, Not Technology
from American Scientist March-April 2012 Population growth and devastating droughts have left thousands of Ethiopian pastoralists in poverty and hunger. But community groups that help people learn literacy, business skills and microfinance–rather than new technologies–made participants more resilient and hopeful … Continue reading
3-D Vision for Tiny Eyes
from ScienceNOW Daily News January 27, 2012 With their keen vision and deadly-accurate pounce, jumping spiders are the cats of the invertebrate world. For decades, scientists have puzzled over how the spiders’ miniature nervous systems manage such sophisticated perception and … Continue reading