Greetings!
I hope your summer has unfolded well. The picture here is from a trip I took to the Galapagos Islands in July. After writing for years about this special place, it was fabulous to finally see it in person.
The last time I sent out a Friday’s Elk, before my trip, I said I’d be taking off the rest of the summer. I’m breaking my summer silence (briefly) primarily to let you know about some housekeeping matters at Friday’s Elk. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk: A break from summer break”
The New York Times, August 20, 2015
The Canadian tiger swallowtail caterpillar is a plump green creature that spends all its time munching leaves. It ought to be an easy meal for a bird, yet many birds pass it by.
The caterpillar is protected by a remarkable defense, researchers have found: It tricks birds into thinking it’s a snake.
The caterpillar grows concentric yellow and black rings that look like a giant pair of eyes. When the caterpillar senses a bird nearby, it quickly inflates the front part of its body, making it resemble a snake’s head.
Continue reading “Evolving a Defense, Mimics Save Themselves”
WIRED, August 20, 2015
THE CENTERS FOR Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 68 children in the US are on the autism spectrum, a number that stands in staggering contrast to a 1970 study that put the figure at one in 14,200. Some people believe we’re in the middle of an autism epidemic. But autism has always been part of the human experience, as journalist (and WIRED contributor) Steve Silberman shows in his new book, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. It’s only recently, he argues, that we have become properly aware of it. We spoke to Silberman about how the modern world came to recognize autistic people and how autistic people helped shape the modern world.
Continue reading “How Autistic People Helped Shape the Modern World”
The New York Times, August 13, 2015
You are what you eat, and so were your ancient ancestors. But figuring out what they actually dined on has been no easy task.
There are no Pleistocene cookbooks to consult. Instead, scientists must sift through an assortment of clues, from the chemical traces in fossilized bones to the scratch marks on prehistoric digging sticks.
Scientists have long recognized that the diets of our ancestors went through a profound shift with the addition of meat. But in the September issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology, researchers argue that another item added to the menu was just as important: carbohydrates, bane of today’s paleo diet enthusiasts.
Continue reading “For Evolving Brains, a ‘Paleo’ Diet of Carbs”
The New York Times, August 6, 2015
Last year, scientists launched a trial of an experimental vaccine against Ebola in Guinea. On Friday, they reported great news: The vaccine works well, providing remarkable protection just 10 days after injection.
“We have to stop and celebrate the fact that an innovative trial design was able to come up, in the middle of an emergency, with pretty strong results,” said Dr. Seth Berkley, the chief executive officer of Gavi, an alliance of public and private organizations that provides greater access to vaccines in developing countries. “Let’s start with that.”
But let’s not end with that.
Continue reading “For Vaccines Needed in an Epidemic, Timing Is Everything”