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Survival of the fittest

In honor of Darwin’s birthday (February 12th), photographs of the Darwinning team during the Reach the Beach relay last year. Plus photographs of their team vans, Nature and Nurture. The team included...

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Stickers for Darwin fans

Come on, science fans, let’s stick together: all you need is a sheet of sticker paper, a printer, and a pair of scissors. Then stick these little Darwins on lunch boxes, laptops, and your friends’...

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Is your school ready for measles?

I was wondering that, so I asked the school nurse what percentage of the students at our local high school were unvaccinated, and how many had non-medical exemptions. Here’s her response: “We are...

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Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research has finally stopped plagiarizing me

I’m delighted to report that The Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research (CPBR) has finally decided to stop plagiarizing me. Details below. But first, the back story in case you missed it, which is...

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Vaccinating kids against sugary drink addiction

One out of three kids these days is overweight or obese, and consumption of drinks that have sugar is likely a big part of why, especially because some parents think such drinks are healthy. Sugar...

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Minor victory in my war against yam labeling fraud

In my futile quest to convince people that sweet potatoes shouldn’t be called yams (which are unrelated plants), I discovered that one can actually report vendors who label sweet potatoes as yams. So,...

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Complimentary fumigation during flight to Galápagos Islands

Before arriving in the Galápagos Islands, you get to watch the cabin being fumigated with insecticide. Because the plane is full of Prius owners who listen to NPR, it was fun to watch peoples’ faces as...

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Golden-backed snipe fly

This golden-backed snipe fly (Chrysopilus thoracicus) landed in one of my bird baths and drifted around for a few minutes on the surface tension. I’m not positive, but I think I’ve seen them do this in...

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Insects from Gambier, Ohio

I spent a few hours over the weekend taking photographs at Kenyon College’s Brown Family Environmental Center in Gambier, Ohio. It was fun to be back in the area — I spent a good chunk of my childhood...

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Damselfly in distress

I believe this is a male violet dancer (Argia fumipennis violaceae). Near the (former) reservoir in the Bill Long Nature Preserve in Oberlin, Ohio. Happy to be corrected. The post Damselfly in distress...

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Justified

I was asked on Twitter if I could clarify my views on text justification for conference posters, but decided I couldn’t come up with a good 140 character response. So here you go: I recommend...

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Eastern boxelder bugs

Below are some photographs of Eastern boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata) I took recently at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Tinicum, Pennsylvania. These true bugs are fun to watch — richly...

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It is not the strongest of the species that survives

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change.” This quote (and hundreds of mutant kin) is often attributed to the naturalist...

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Distinguishing tobacco and tomato hornworm caterpillars

After agonizing over the identification of hornworm larvae for years, I’ve developed two tricks that I’d like to share. Tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) caterpillars have stripes (seven of them), so...

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Infestation of camel crickets

When it’s too hot to take photographs outside, I can always go down to my basement to photograph camel crickets (“sprickets” to many). I know, lucky me. But if you have a moist basement, you probably...

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Photographs from the Galapagos Islands

Just a few Galapagos photographs pulled from my Instagram feed. Click or mouse-over to read captions, and email me if you have any burning questions. I only had a few seconds to take many of these...

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Sweet Potato Awareness Month

November is Sweet Potato Awareness Month (SPAM), and I do my part by reminding people that yams are something else entirely. As a foodie and an evolutionary biologist, I feel obliged to be a nudge...

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A simple name change for antibiotics could save lives

In depressing medical news this week, the World Health Organization reported that 64% of adults believe that antibiotics can be used to treat flu and colds. That’s terrible because those 64% are likely...

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Do antibiotics kill viruses?

If you wonder why so many people think antibiotics can treat colds and flu (viruses), perhaps its because sick people are using search engines to figure out what antibiotics are. Below are some...

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Happy birthday, Origin of Species!

On November 24th, 1859, Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Eventually shortened (thank, God)...

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