evolution

On the last warm day in the Valley, before first snow the mountains, I drove up as high as I could through Lassen Volcanic National Park–over 8500 feet/2500 meters. In…

The word ‘evolution’ is overused and misused, coming to mean everything from gradual societal improvement to technological innovation. Strictly speaking however, evolution has nothing to do with human affairs. Indeed,…

In the 4 billion-year history of life on earth, from single-celled bacteria to trilobites to dinosaurs to humans, there have been five mass extinctions. The Washington Post recently published a…

A friend and I fr0m philosophy grad school days at the University of Oregon are exploring the question: Is the human brain exapted for insight? ‘Exaptation’ is a word coined…

“Manshape, that shone sheer off, disseveral, a star, death blots black out; Nor mark is any of him at all so stark but vastness blurs and time beats level. Away…

In the science fiction classic “2001, A Space Odyssey,” HAL, the all too human-like computer, malfunctions and kills the hibernating crewmembers, and then snuffs out the life of one of…

The wind gusted all day today, keeping the temperature unseasonably low, and the foothills splendidly clear. The creek still runs cold, clear and fast, and it was good to sit…

Kites are most gracile and graceful of falcons. They hover for 30 seconds or more, scanning the field for prey before tucking their long, slender wings into a ‘V’ and…