Harvesting wind power is a fast-growing form of alternative energy technology, and U.S. interest in the wind industry is growing, as we work towards diversifying our energy grid. New turbines are being erected across the nation, and the prospects for using wind to supplement our power supply are positive. As with any form of technology, there have been, and will be, some collateral damage to wildlife and the environment. Although the effects of reducing oil consumption should outweigh the detrimental... Read more

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The Salinas River Valley is apparently being terrorized by a new salamander “superpredator,” resulting from interbreeding between the California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense_) and an introduced species, the barred tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum mavortium_). According to a fascinating new study conducted by a group of researchers from the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, the hybrid offspring grow much larger than either parent, with massive mouths that allow them to consume a... Read more

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One of the general trends seen throughout the animal kingdom, and especially within Class Mammalia, is a scaling of longevity to body size. Elephants live longer than horses, which live longer than mice. There have been many, many studies which attempt to parse out the reasons for this, ranging from metabolism and fecundity to intracellular transport and skeletal biomechanics. As with many phenomena in biology, however, there are indeed exceptions to the rule, and these cases can be extremely instructive.... Read more

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