Spooky, Scary Scorpions? Actually, Not So Much. (You Aren’t Worth the Venom.)
A little too hairy and a little too pinchy to classify as charismatic, scorpions strike fear in the hearts of many—through no fault of their own. A scorpion expert sets...
Science and Nature
Argiope Spiders Decorate Their Webs—And We Don’t Know Why: Naturalist’s Notebook
Maybe it helps them hunt. Maybe not. From the sketchbook of John Muir Laws.
The Nearly Unkillable Eucalyptus Meets Its Match
Eucalyptus trees on Albany Hill are wasting away from blight. Some people may cheer—but these trees are also home to endangered monarchs.
Skippers: Between Butterfly and Moth
When butterfly mania took hold of me, decades back, I thought I’d never crack the skippers’ code: the creatures are impish, and maddening to learn.
An Invitation to Imagine Utopia, and See What Sticks
Two murals at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art in Novata are the work of San Francisco painter Elisheva Biernoff. By choosing from a library of magnets, visitors to The...
To Count Seabirds From Above, Fly Slowly And Pack a Big Lens
Aerial wildlife surveys, conducted by the USGS to inform the coming offshore wind energy boom, are strikingly beautiful, for government data. They were also hard-won.
Logjam: The Supply Chain Problem That’s Keeping California From Preventing Catastrophic Wildfires on Private Land
Private landowners in California hold a huge amount of forest that's primed to burn.
Tracking Prairie Falcons, Mysterious Raptors of the Grasslands
"Peregrines are birds of the air," says one expert. "Prairie falcons are falcons of the ground." That makes them more sensitive to habitat loss throughout California, too.
The Living Drill Bits That Grind Holes in Beach Rocks
The piddock clam makes its mark on the world at the rate of one millimeter per month.
Species to Look For in Fall 2022
Elusive salamanders, flying spiders, shadowy sculpins, sapsuckers, lone-ranger bats, and waxy white snowberries.
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