What Can Owls Tell Us About Our Health?
Evolutionary biologist Nicolas Salamin explains how studying barn owls suggests that color tells us something about our health.
The Dust Bowl: Lessons from the Greatest U.S. Environmental Disaster
NASA research scientist Benjamin Cook explains how the Dust Bowl years of the American Midwest were not entirely a "natural disaster" and how lessons learned then prevented a sequel.
Why Are There So Many Species in Tropical Rainforests?
Tropical ecologist Simon Queenborough addresses the mystery behind the fabulous array of plants and animals found in tropical rainforests.
Out of Control Wildfires: a California-size Disaster
Fire ecologist Max Moritz discusses the reason that Southern California and other Mediterranean landscapes are wracked by wildfires over and over.
Our Minds Are Like Computers (Ditto for Worms)
Physicist Dani Bassett discusses the structural similarities between the human brain and that of worms -- or of nearly any system that processes information.
Why Are Chili Peppers So Spicy?
Ecologist Josh Tewksbury explains the strategy behind chili peppers producing such spicy products.
Are Conservation Biologists Wasting Their Time?
Ecologist Hugh Possingham argues that conservationists have made a fetish of monitoring ailing species, and what they should be doing isn't counting but acting.
Hidden Cost of Frog Legs
Tropical biologist Navjot Sodhi explains that man is eating some frog species to extinction, and how a certification system could keep them from croaking.
Coral Reefs Just Might Survive
Marine biologist John Pandolfi discusses historical reconstructions that suggest there yet be hope for saving Earth's ailing coral reefs.
What Columbus Can Teach Space Program
Historian Stephen Pyne of Arizona State University talks about the future of manned space exploration and what it can learn from the past.