A 200-Year-Old Scale That Will Help You Read the Wind
On land, we can usually afford to ignore the wind. Not so in a small sailboat, where the wind is your boss.
Science and Nature
What Lives, and Dies, on Tule Mats
A woman and her students weave a world of life for mosquito predators.
Local Groups Sue Trump Administration to Protect White Sturgeon
Recent federal- and state-level orders to divert water have environmentalists concerned over local impacts on this historic fish.
Naturalist’s Notebook: The Nuances of Yellow-Rumped Warblers
Yellow-rumped warblers are around in winter. But which variant are you seeing?
A Battery Fire Deposits Heavy Metals into Elkhorn Slough
Lithium-ion battery components—nickel, manganese, and cobalt—were found at concentrations thousands of times greater after the fire. The implications for wildlife hang in the balance.
Winter 2025 Almanac: Salamanders and Sperm Whales
Life during winter is full of conversation.
Paddling the Cosumnes River Preserve, a Lush Refuge in the Central Valley
Restoration dollars from the IRA mark the latest chapter in stewardship across the Cosumnes River watershed, where sandhill cranes flock.
A Mussel Bed is Full of Life, 80 Years Later
The invertebrates found in a mussel bed on Dillon Beach in western Marin County are just as abundant as they were in 1941. But the types of organisms have changed.
The Adder’s-Tongue—Our Fetid Friend in the Shadows
Deep in the shadows of redwood understory, when winter rains still drip on the mosses and ferns, an unusual flower heralds the beginning of the blooms—a sort of “flower new...
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