By Margaret Guthrie Wolf whistle Ausband captures wolf “Frank Sinatra.” Courtesy of David Ausband / Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit Wolves are no respecter of boundaries, nor are they intimidated by rough terrain, which makes their population difficult to monitor. Now that they have been delisted as an endangered species under federal law, and Idaho and Montana have instituted hunts, tracking their numbers has be

Among the few cultural traditions shared by human populations across time and geography is the abiding urge to make and consume alcoholic beverages. Alcohol was also one of the first medicines as well as a component of many early religious practices. But modern humans' choices are limited to a few alcoholic staples -- beer, wine, and "hard" liquor. Many of the beverages enjoyed by cultures past have been lost to the historical record. Patrick McGovern, a University of Pennsylvania researcher wh

These days food comes to us in all manner of attractive packaging: fancy foils, bright boxes, and striking wrappers. But the plants that make up the bulk of our diets can be even more beautiful than the most cleverly designed package. This fact, often lost on modern day consumers, is celebrated in the second edition of linkurl:__The New Oxford Book of Food Plants__;https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019954946X/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=019

By Margaret Guthrie Mini-mass spec Analyzing chemicals underwater with the mass spectrometer. The sampling port is at the end of the robotic arm. Courtesy of Scott Wankel There’s a lot going on 2500 meters below sea level. It’s dark, temperatures can climb to 300 degrees Celsius near thermal vents, and the pressure is about 250 atmospheres. If humans could swim at that depth, the pressure exerted on the body would be equivalent to the weight of ab

By Margaret Guthrie Got moose? Cadwell in fall Courtesy of Paul Lussier I’m sitting in the cab of a large pick-up whose roof bristles with radio antennae, on a narrow back road in the western, more wooded part of Massachusetts. On the seat between Dave Wattles and me is a radio the size of an automobile battery with knobs and dials on top. It’s emitting a low static hum punctuate

Everyone knows the story about Sir Isaac Newton's run-in with an apple. But when you read linkurl:Newton and the Counterfeiter;https://www.amazon.com/Newton-Counterfeiter-Detective-Greatest-Scientist/dp/0151012784 by Thomas Levenson, you realize that there was more to the man than an extraordinary understanding of physics and philosophy. The book tells the story of how, in the author's words: "Newton, only months removed from the life of a Cambridge philosopher, managed incredibly swiftly to mast

Musical MDs and instrument playing PhDs bring classical music to concert halls and hospital rooms

The Scientist visits a brand new exhibit that sheds a little light on how bizarre our family tree really is

Chemical traces of medicinal herbs identified in ancient Egyptian wine jugs demonstrate that the culture employed herbal remedies 1500 years earlier than previously thought, reports linkurl:a study;https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/04/13/0811578106 in this week's PNAS. Yellow residue visible on a pieceof a wine vessel from about 3150 BC Image: German Archaeological Institute, Cairo The findings directly confirm the use of remedies described in a series of medical papyri written around 185

Of beetles and bacteria By Margaret Guthrie Infected pine, with trails created by female beetles. The white pods are larvae deposited by females. Erich G. Vallery / USDA Forest Service—SRS-4552, US All across the United States and Canada, tiny pine bark beetles are killing trees. From the northern pine bark beetle in Canada, the mountain pine bark beetle in Colorado, Montana, and Idaho to the southern pine bark beetle in the

Will work for steak By Margaret Guthrie Rogue: "Medium rare, please." Alice Whitelaw / Working Dogs for Conservation Foundation Rogue, like all of us, works for food. (He prefers his steak medium rare.) Unlike us, however, he is a five-year-old Belgian Sheepdog whose owner, Dave Vesely, is the executive director of the Oregon Wildlife Institute. Rogue's latest accomplishment: spotting an endangered plant and the precious, pin-sized eggs

In new book, an immunologist explains why an intimate connection to the earth beneath our feet can keep us healthy