A 22-year-old researcher in Australia just discovered 12 new species of spider, seven of which are colorful peacock spiders. Not only are peacock spiders beautiful (their name reflects their colorfully patterned abdomens), but they are also exceptional dancers. Males wave
Zap! Newly discovered electric eel generates some serious current
Scientists recently discovered that there are not one (as they had thought), not two, but three different species of electric eel. And one of the new discoveries packs the biggest punch of all. These eels send out pulses of electricity
Listen to millions of monarchs
What sound does a butterfly make? With it’s delicate wings, not a whole lot–until you get millions of them together in one place. Most monarchs migrate to Mexico for the winter. There, they huddle in trees at night and flit
Slingshot spider
You thought cheetahs were fast? Meet the slingshot spider. This resident of the Peruvian rainforest nabs a meal in its web like most spiders. But instead of waiting for the food to come to it, this spider takes its web
Ninja kangaroo rats!
Nature is awesome, and so are the scientists who study it. Researchers studying rattlesnakes and kangaroo rats (common predator and prey) needed to be able to see what happened during those lightning-quick interactions. To do so, they used high-speed video,
Alison’s Adventures: Close encounters of the reptilian kind
I had a close encounter with (captive) wildlife not long ago, when my family visited the Wild Discovery Room at the Crane Festival in Kearney, NE. There were all kinds of great critters there, including eight or nine raptors (owls,
Scientists discover deep-water octopod
Given how much of the world people have explored, you would think that scientists had discovered all the species out there. But new discoveries continue to happen. Take this “remarkable little octopod” discovered at 5,000 feet below sea level —
Death Valley in full bloom
Death Valley is one of the hottest places on the planet, and most of the time, it’s sandy and barren. But when rain falls, all that changes. Seeds that lay hidden in the soil (sometimes for years) burst open and
First book signing!
Last week was a huge one for me. First we got the outdoor classroom installed at my kids’ school. Then on Saturday, I had my first book signing at the Bookworm Book Store in Omaha, Nebraska–and sold out of books
New outdoor classroom–now in!
Here it is, the culmination of something I have poured my heart and soul into for the past two years: the outdoor classroom is in! I applied for the main grant for this space two years ago. That school year,