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Black and white headshot of author James MacDonald

James MacDonald

James MacDonald received a BS in Environmental Biology from Columbia and a PhD in Ecology and Evolution from Rutgers University, spending 4 years in Central America collecting data on fish in mangrove forests. His research has been published in scholarly journals such as Estuaries and Coasts and Biological Invasions. Until his death in the fall of 2019, James worked in fisheries management and outreach in New York.

A woman with a protective mask in a plane
Quick Question

Do Airplanes Really Make You Sick?

A Curious Reader asks: Am I really at a higher risk of getting sick on an airplane?
Asian small-clawed otters
Plants & Animals

Pssst. Exotic Animals Don’t Make Good Pets

They might be cute, but animals like otters are difficult to take care of. Plus, there are ecological concerns inherent in removing them from the wild.
A school of anchovies
Plants & Animals

Why Forage Fish Conservation Matters

Small fish like herring and anchovies serve an important role in the ecosystem. If passed into law, a new act would protect these forage fish.
Two IAEA experts examine recovery work on top of Unit 4 of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
Science & Technology

How to Clean Up After a Nuclear Disaster

Workers are still cleaning up after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant partial meltdown. There's a lot of contaminated material to contend with.
An illustration of an elephant between crosshairs
Plants & Animals

The Military Response to Poaching

Is militarizing rangers really the best way to cut down on poaching? It's more complicated than you might imagine.
Yttrium crystal
Science & Technology

The Downside to Renewable Energy

Rare earth elements are used in virtually all electronics, and mining them is a messy business.
A flamingo feeding its young
Plants & Animals

How Non-Mammals “Nurse” Their Young

Some birds feed their young with "crop milk," while discus fish feed their fry with a special mucus. It may not seem as cute as nursing, but it works.
Illustration of a wild boar, between 1868 and 1874
Plants & Animals

Denmark Builds a Wild Boar Wall

Is constructing a fence along the Denmark/Germany border really the best way to keep wild pigs away from domestic pigs?
This infographic details the locations of the participating telescopes of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and the Global mm-VLBI Array (GMVA).
Science & Technology

Seeing Black Holes

Two of the scientists on the huge team that eventually captured the world's first image of a black hole discuss the particular challenges of the task.
Frozen lake Baikal near Olkhon island
Natural Science

Exploring Lake Baikal

The world's largest, deepest freshwater lake is home to hundreds of species that don't live anywhere else on Earth. But it's threatened by climate change.
The wreck of the H.M.S. Deal Castle off Puerto Rico, in the hurricane of 1780 with the crew escaping on a raft, by John Thomas Serres
Natural Science

The Dramatic Waves That Sink Ships

Rogue waves are becoming larger and more dangerous. But even long-term studies have not made these waves any easier to predict or avoid.
Los Angeles
Science & Technology

Why Is It So Much Hotter in the City?

On a sunny day, a city can be several degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. Could better building materials make cities absorb less heat?
A Wafer of the Latest D-Wave Quantum Computers
Science & Technology

What Is a Quantum Computer?

Researchers claim to have turned back time inside a quantum computer. Meanwhile, most of us are still trying to wrap our minds around what that even means.
A thumbprint on a screen
Science & Technology

How Scientific Is Forensic Science?

We like to think that physical evidence is a foolproof way to lock in a conviction. The problem is that forensic science isn't exactly a science.
Space rocks floating in space as a spacecraft shines a light towards them
Natural Science

Kuiper Belt Objects Are as Mysterious as They Are Distant

Recently the New Horizons spacecraft made the first flyby of a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) in the extreme outer solar system. What do we know about KBOs?
A meteor striking earth
Natural Science

How to Avoid a Meteor

It isn’t likely that Earth will be hit by a large meteor, but if it were, the results would be catastrophic.
Reflection of crocodile submerged in water, Australia
Plants & Animals

Coexisting With Crocodiles

Conservation efforts have led to increased crocodile populations in areas like the Philippines. It's great news for the crocs. Not so much for the people.
An opossum feigning death
Plants & Animals

The Biology of Death-Feigning

Some animals, when faced with predators, play dead instead of trying to escape. But for death-feigning to work, a lot of things have to go well.
Bilateral Gynandromorph Cardinal
Plants & Animals

The Mysterious Gynandromorph

Gynandromorphy is an extremely rare condition in which an animal is half male and half female. It's most visible in birds and butterflies.
Long-tailed pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla), Mangamba, Littoral Province, Cameroon
Plants & Animals

The Pangolin Extinction Vortex

This shy, strange-looking, nocturnal mammal has been poached nearly to extinction.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golfstream.jpg
Science & Technology

Remembering Climate Pioneer Dr. Wallace Broecker

He brought us the term "global warming," furthering our understanding of the ways in which people affect the planet's climate.
Honeybee Apis mellifera
Plants & Animals

Are Honey Bees Bad for Wild Bees?

Recently, the health of the honey bees has been a topic of some concern. But many scientists think we should actually be worrying about wild bees instead.
A tractor spreads biosolids in a field
Science & Technology

What To Do about Biosolids

People are understandably reluctant to make much use of sewer sludge. Can rebranding human waste as "biosolids" change the public's mind?
Two Sumatran tigers
Plants & Animals

Mating at the Zoo Can Be Dangerous

A Sumatran tiger killed the female he was meant to mate with. Mating endangered species in captivity has long been a problem, if not always to such dramatic effect.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Argonauta_argo_Merculiano.jpg
Plants & Animals

Paper Nautilus, Octopus of the Open Sea

Why the argonaut, or paper nautilus, may be your new favorite cephalopod.

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