This morning he was there, hiding in a meadow beaten flat by winter, in a cavity of crumpled grass that had been abandoned for a deeper burrow by some still-sleeping creature. Spring was hiding that borrowed nest. It was the middle of March and meadowlark was back!
Eastern meadowlark • Photo by synspectrum (CC BY 2.0)
Trifolium dubium (lesser trefoil) • (CC BY SA 3.0)
Tracking the ‘true shamrock’
March is the time for wearing of the green. Shamrocks will sprout as thick as dandelions in July. From Boston to San Francisco, from New York City to Sydney, Australia, Irish men and women will be sporting the small green emblem of the Emerald Isle.
17th century star atlas (Public Domain)
Detective work in the heavens
Who invented the constellations? Who first imagined the confrontation of Taurus and Orion in the winter sky? Who placed the figures of the Great Bear and the Little Bear near the northern pole? Who sent Cygnus the Swan winging along the stream of the Milky Way?
A simulated interference pattern • Timm Weitkamp (CC BY 3.0)
The duality of the subatomic
“You can’t lose doing physics,” says physicist Mike Horne. “Either you have the thrill of stumbling upon something new or you have the pleasure of seeing accepted principles working perfectly.”
Buzz Aldrin on the moon • NASA / Neil A. Armstrong
A mixed legacy
Where were you at 4:17 p.m., on Sunday, July 20, 1969?
Halley's Comet, as seen in March 1986 • NASA/W. Liller (Public Domain)
Halley’s Comet: no close encounter
This is the year of Halley’s Comet. Sometime before the last day of 1985, you and I will have the opportunity to see this most famous of all celestial visitors.
The sealed and abandoned Kola Superdeep Borehole in 2012 • Photo by Rakot13 (CC BY SA 3.0)
Go down, young man, go down
What child has not at some time dreamed of digging a hole to China? Geologists can be excused if they dream the same dream.
R136 in the Tarantula Nebula • By NASA, ESA, F. Paresce, R. O'Connell (Public Domain)
New variety among the stars
A population profile of the stars is like a pyramid. At the top of the pyramid are the blue giant stars, the lords of the galaxy.
Gall on oak leaf • Photo by Berthold Werner (CC BY SA 3.0)
Plant galls: home for insects
The season has stripped the woods bare. The leafy veils have dropped. Now it’s all rock, bark, spike, and spine. And galls.
Woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (Public Domain)
God and the Big Bang
Next winter [1985] Halley’s Comet will make its long awaited dash around the sun. It will be the fourth appearance of the comet since Newton’s colleague Edmund Halley predicted its periodic return.