Butterflies do it horizontally (published on Nautilus)
What is a species? It’s a question that has agonized scientists since well before Darwin. With some exceptions, the thinking has landed...
Old Guys and Butterflies
“Are you looking for Weight Watchers?” A tall man with a clipboard looks concerned, and I am, in fact, confused. The plushy red...
What Counts
Hi friends. I have been a downright slacker when it comes to blogging! But I am officially dug in on my next book project, which is...
The Journey, not the Arrival
For three years I worked with a big inter-agency and multiple institutional team to make a new map of San Francisco called Nature in the...
Heroes of the big, little world
(This is adapted from my commencement address to The Ross School in East Hampton, where I grew up, earlier this month.) When I was...
We are all scientists
While many scientists are pledging to March for Science across the country on Earth Day, April 22, some of their colleagues plan to sit...
Why citizen science may shine, even in Trump's world
As we brace for fresh environmental onslaughts to be leveled by the incoming administration, a sleeper cell in the federal government...
One Tam, Two Mountains
For those of us who live near Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California, the mountain is more than the central organizing principle of...
Flow (with the Redwood Trees)
On a Sunday in summer 2008, I was sitting in the library at the California Academy of Sciences, alone on the third floor of the brand-new...
Citizen Scientist
Gearing up for the September 6 release of my new book, this website is being redesigned at the moment by the wonderful Nancy Freeborn....
