There are “plant-like,” “animal-like,” and “fungus-like” protists. But it’s surprisingly hard to say exactly what a protist is—these organisms are defined more by what they’re not.

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There are “plant-like,” “animal-like,” and “fungus-like” protists. But it’s surprisingly hard to say exactly what a protist is—these organisms are defined more by what they’re not.
King tides over 7 feet are coming to the Bay Area Jan. 21-22, 2023—and lucky for us, they’re happening at a reasonable time to go out and see them. Here’s a short cosmic backgrounder on why king tides happen.
“The landscape is riddled with risk out there right now, but we don’t want to vilify the carriers,” says one expert. “They’re just doing their thing. They’re being ducks.” So, where did this virus come from?
Seals, dolphins and foxes have all gotten sick. How likely is it to spread to people?
At Point Pinole, 21 sturgeon carcasses––some more than seven feet long––lay strewn along a mile-long stretch of beach in late August 2022, baking in the relentless heat. It was the peak of the largest harmful algal bloom on record in … Read more
The city of Oakland just made history by giving over five acres in Joaquin Miller Park to an Indigenous land trust’s stewardship. But the backstory was decades in the making.
Researchers are investigating the secrets of our two resident sturgeon species, which have razor-sharp armor and shlorp up clams with their vacuum-shaped mouths.
Eucalyptus trees on Albany Hill are wasting away from blight. Some people may cheer—but these trees are also home to endangered monarchs.
The piddock clam makes its mark on the world at the rate of one millimeter per month.
Anchovies sparkled and seawater sprayed from the crusty maws of gray whales as they burst through the surface, again and again, off the coast near Pacifica, fifteen miles south of San Francisco. Groups of up to six gray whales devoured … Read more