There is a category of traditional building technique that looks primitive and turns out to be doing something subtle, and thatch is the clearest example available.
The appearance suggests a…
Maya Linton
There is a category of discovery that arrives sideways, as the residue of an argument about something else entirely.
The argument concerned whether a space containing nothing could exist. The…
There is a category of living thing that is truly difficult to classify, and lichens are the standard example.
The difficulty is not that they are obscure. They are everywhere…
There is a useful question to ask about any everyday object: what did people do before it, and did they think they had a problem?
For most tools the answer…
Almost nothing about a reef is the animals. It is a structure they built, shaped by light, waves and water depth, and every part of its form is a record…
Two facts explain most of this: freezing requires a starting point, and water vapour can turn directly to ice without becoming liquid first. Here are twelve consequences.
1. Freezing Needs…