Evergreen
Blue whales gather in record numbers off San Francisco coast
Blue whales, the largest animals on Earth, like to gather off the coast of San Francisco to feed on krill in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Right now, they are showing up in potentially record-breaking numbers. Just 30 miles offshore from San Francisco, 47 endangered blue Read More...
Listen to this fascinating piece of ambient music composed by stars
Though we can’t hear them, stars propagate some incredibly soothing soundscapes through the vacuum of space. And for the first time, music composed from the acoustic waves that blast out of these sublime celestial bodies has been made available online. The music is arranged by Brian Eno, the Read More...
Thought Leader Series: Rethinking the virus and the future
Millions of species on Earth, from tiny microorganisms to the blue whale, all work together to maintain a stable biodiverse ecosystem everywhere on the planet. However, somewhere along the line, humans developed a humans-as-supreme, not life-as-supreme, attitude about our role in nature. In Read More...
How to change people’s minds without triggering a negative response
People don’t like being told what to do. There’s even a word for it: reactance. “Psychological reactance is a negative emotional state that we feel when we’re not in control of our behavior,” says Jonah Berger, author of The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind. “Anytime we feel like Read More...
These animals socially distance themselves too during times of illness
While it may feel unnatural for us to engage in social distancing, the sacrifices we've made have deep roots in the animal kingdom. From ants and bees to mice, monkeys, and apes, an array of social animals change their behavior to reduce the risk of spreading infections when one member of the Read More...
Study: Eating dinner early can help you lower blood sugar and burn fat
Conventional wisdom is that a calorie is a calorie, no matter when you eat it, and that weight gain is caused by eating more calories than you use. Nutritionists call this the calories in, calories out theory of weight control. But it might not be as simple as that. New research discovers that Read More...
Why a clover lawn is so much better than a grass lawn
Americans use more than 7 billion gallons of water a day on their lawns. Over half of that doesn't even help lawns. People overwater, which is bad for the grass. Some water just evaporates or runs into sewers, carrying pesticides with it. That's a pretty heavy environmental cost. "But people like Read More...
Opera house performs first post-lockdown concert for an all-plant audience
In June 2020, Barcelona’s Liceu Opera House emerged from its lockdown-induced siesta by throwing a concert to a rather unusual audience. The attendees did not need masks or gloves in the middle of the pandemic, nor did they be required to follow physical distancing rules. However, they did Read More...
Johns Hopkins is offering a free online course in psychological first aid
The pandemic caused a significant rise in anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Isolation, combined with health concerns, social justice frustrations, and economic uncertainty took its toll on all of us. With this in mind, researchers from Johns Hopkins University started offering Read More...
San Francisco police won't send officers to respond to non-criminal calls
Cities across the US are finally seeing some tangible police reform and defunding changes. San Francisco is joining the movement with their recent announcement that police officers will be replaced with trained, unarmed professionals to respond to calls for help on non-criminal matters involving Read More...