“Is there anything in the universe more beautiful and protective than the simple complexity of a spider’s web?” – E.B. White In the summer of each year, after the hard rains have replenished the landscape, I notice a menagerie of large, vibrantly colored adult orb-weaver spiders emerging in my backyard. There are several varieties, including
The Ancestral Blueprints of Spider Webs Read More »
How structure creates dazzling colors When the gifted actress Ellen Terry stepped onto the stage as Lady Macbeth in the 1888 premiere of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in London, the audience gasped. The object of their astonishment was not the actress, nor her demeanor, but rather the stunning, almost magical dress she was wearing. The dress shimmered
Iridescence: Nature’s Light Show Read More »
We tend to think of agriculture in human terms. But when our ancestors began rudimentary farming about 12,000 years ago, leafcutter ants were millions of years ahead of us. Surprisingly, their story began some 66 million years ago, when an asteroid believed to be about 10 kilometers wide slammed into the Yucatán Peninsula. The Chicxulub
The Cataclysmic Origin Story of Leafcutter Ants Read More »
There is an old saying, “Listen to the eyes, they have much to say.” This expression can be extended to butterflies. Their eyes are self-revealing: Through external observation, their eyes reveal their structure, from which we can determine their sensitivity, acuity, field of view, and more. By and large, butterflies are visual creatures, and rely
Listening to the Eyes of a Butterfly Read More »
