Features
Trawling For Genes
Microbial DNA reveals invisible societies that control the world’s oceans.
River Otters Are Back
Playful otters have returned to streams and lakes near San Francisco, but will they stay?
Coyotes Cross The Valley
Ecologists map the paths of wild animals navigating a threatened landscape.
From HIV To Immunity
Virus fragments with a sugary finish may lead to a new vaccine against AIDS.
Fostered By Fog
Sea mist supports a surprisingly diverse group of scrubby, brushy plants along California’s coast.
Seeking Seismic Signs
Earthquake science has come a long way, but are we any closer to predicting them?
Unfolding The Mind
Scientists try to untangle the mystery behind a rare neurodegenerative disease.
Pocket Genes
A miniature DNA sequencer began 27 years ago with a quick sketch in a car.
Fire Mountains
Decades of suppression have made Sierra Nevada wildfires far more intense.
Return To Death Valley
Naturalists are retracing century-old studies of fragile life in the harsh desert.
Latest Blog Posts
The science of barefoot running: A personal journey
I first heard about Born to Run, the Chris McDougall book that sparked the barefoot running craze, during my freshman year of college in 2012. At the time, before I got bogged down with trivialities like torn anterior cruciate ligaments (turns out those really...
Why are Juvenile Crabs Hitching Rides on Sea Pigs?
On the muddy grounds of the deep ocean, sea cucumbers are playing nanny to young king crabs. But are they being compensated?’ These sea cucumbers, commonly known as sea pigs, are bottom-dwelling creatures that look like grapefruit jelly with legs and could fit...
Here’s how to attract helper bugs to your organic farm: grow some native plants
Every night as Marshall Hinsley walks through his farm in Texas, hundreds of tiny bright dots light up the land when he shines his flashlight into the distance. “It’s like glitter,” he says. “Those are all the eyes of spiders just blanketing the landscape.” Hinsley’s...
What banana slug slime can tell us about giraffe saliva and human snot
I recently photographed a banana slug for a short article I was writing about banana slug slime for the Santa Cruz Hilltromper, a website for nature lovers in the area. “Okay, now turn your head to the left… down a little… actually can you crawl up this rock a bit...
Historical narratives drive debate over California’s forests
The latest news release by the U.S. Forest Service reads ominously: the Sierra Nevada has over 100 million dead trees. Swathes of standing dry trees infested with insects populate the Stanislaus, Sequoia, and Sierra National Forests. Climate change, a five-year...
Mystery of the Red Tide
I stood with my feet buried in sand, staring at the ocean waves as they touched the beach. It was mid-October. To my untrained eye, the Monterey Bay shoreline looked like a child’s bubble bath. To California Fish and Wildlife scientists, it was a terrible déjà vu....Latest Podcast
Searching For Super Corals
Teresa Carey learns how scientists hope to breed corals that can survive climate change. Illustration by Emily Hess.
Latest Video
A Feast of Fertilizer: Bacteria Clean Agricultural Runoff
Scientists in California’s Central Coast hope to use bacteria to improve water quality with a one-of-a-kind field experiment
A Feast of Fertilizer: Bacteria Clean Agricultural Runoff, by Emma Hiolski and Sarah Derouin
Scientists in California’s Central Coast hope to use bacteria to improve water quality with a one-of-a-kind field experiment