In case you missed it, this article was originally published on October 21st.  – – – Dumpster diving has never been my cup of tea. But when it comes to science, it turns out that you can convince me to tackle all sorts of less-than-glamorous tasks, including creeping around the [...]

This post is cross-posted from The Stanford Daily. I met Makana in August 2005, where an old lava flow meets the ocean in a series of ledges and tide pools on Kauai, one of the Hawaiian Islands. He was a “local” of about my age who got his name (Hawaiian for [...]

Two interesting pieces of Jasper Ridge news surfaced recently and together they make an interesting pair. First, Scientists have long known that mountain lions frequent Jasper Ridge, a research preserve in Stanford’s backyard, but thanks to a network of cameras installed in September 2009 they have been able to record [...]

If you’d asked me four years ago what an environmentalist’s job is, I would have been quick to tell you that their main responsibility is preserving nature. Environmentalists are charged with the noble task of keeping the Sierra Nevada, the Amazon rainforest, and countless other natural landforms in the world, [...]

Acorn woodpeckers are virtually unmistakable (although nothing is unmistakable until you’ve had some practice) and probably the bird I find most fun to watch around the center of campus (I’d vote that the Acorn woodpecker be the official Stanford bird, but no has asked me yet).  You can often see [...]

In the summer of 1869 John Muir ventured into the Sierra Nevada. While helping a shepherd and his flock reach the headwaters of the Merced River, Muir recorded his daily activities. He later compiled these entries to create My First Summer in the Sierra. Each entry reveals Muir’s conversion experience [...]