Glorious End to a Tragic Year

A steady, wet snow has been falling in Columbia since early this morning and is expected to continue through most of the day.  Perfect for b...

Hypertension: the Silent Killer

Hypertension, the medical term for high blood pressure, can lead to a wide range of health problems.  Unfortunately, this common condition i...

Snowy Owls

Among the most easily identified birds on our planet, snowy owls breed on the Arctic tundra of Alaska, Canada and Eurasia.  Their dense plum...

The Woodland Mouse

White-footed mice are common residents of woodlands from southeastern Canada to Mexico and throughout the eastern 2/3 of the U.S. (with the ...

Calendar of Life

As we approach the end of the human calendar year, it seems appropriate to revisit the calendar of life.  Current scientific evidence indica...

Natural History of Squid

Squid, like octopi, cuttlefish and nautilus species, are cephalopods, a branch of mollusks.  Ancestral squid, which had elongated, external ...

Christmas Storms

The latest winter storm system has dropped across the Southwest and, as of this morning, its central low is spinning just north of Lubbock, ...

Copahue Volcano Eruption

The Copahue Volcano, in the Andes on the border of Argentina and Chile, is erupting once again, sending a cloud of ash one mile into the atm...

The Evolution of Corals

Corals are a diverse group of marine invertebrates that first appeared in the Cambrian Period, some 550 million years ago (MYA).  Fossils of...

The Northern Goshawk

The northern goshawk is the largest accipiter in North America and the most widespread accipiter on our planet, breeding in coniferous or mi...

Feeding Birds

On this clear, cold morning following our first significant snowfall of the winter, I am paying close attention to our backyard sunflower fe...

Tornadoes & Blizzards

As of 6 AM, the latest winter storm was centered over northwest Missouri.  Ahead of its cold front, it was 50 degrees F here in Columbia, wi...

Humans, Empathy & Guns

Social creatures, we humans tend to be empathetic.  This trait, the capacity to recognize suffering and commiserate with those in distress, ...

Snows over Illinois

We left Cincinnati this morning and headed west under low, gray clouds.  The overcast cleared as we crossed the Wabash River, in western Ind...

In Familiar Terrain

Growing up in Cincinnati, I came to know its varied neighborhoods, towns, parks and suburbs but paid little attention to its topography and ...

Ohio's Glacial Lakes

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio harbors at least 50,000 ponds and lakes and, of these, only 110 are natural.  Th...

Flat Terrain, Hidden Geology

Following I-70 eastward from central Missouri to central Ohio, as we did today, one crosses relatively flat terrain, broken only by creek an...

Evolution of Marine Animals

Life, itself, evolved in Earth's primordial oceans about 3.6 billion years ago; these initial unicellular forms of life were likely chem...

Generation Labels

Thanks to Tom Brokaw, we all "know" that those Americans who guided us through WWII are "the Greatest Generation."  Whil...

The Muskox

Every year, when the first wave of Arctic air drops into the Heartland, I am inclined to consider those mammals that are able to thrive in s...

Gray Days

A stationary front has draped itself across Missouri for the past few days, bringing classic December weather.  Separating cold air to its n...

Compromise & Zealotry

Compromise is, in my opinion, the vital key to sustaining relationships, whether they be marital, political or economic.  It requires a cert...

North American Japan

The northeastern half of Japan lies on the North American Plate, which dips down from the Aleutian Chain, crosses the middle of Honshu (Japa...

Pine Birds

Throughout the American Midwest, deciduous trees dominate our forests and riparian woodlands and the majority of resident birds favor those ...

Red Wolf Controversy

When European explorers first reached North America, red wolves inhabited the southeastern quadrant of the Continent, from New England to th...

Modern Gladiators

Few of us would condone a resurrection of the Roman Colosseum, where throngs of rabid citizens were entertained by the suffering and death o...

Pascagoula River Basin

Of the many landscapes that we crossed on our trip back to Missouri from South Florida, the broad tidal marsh of the lower Pascagoula River ...

Waiting on Winter

It may be December 2 but it felt more like late September in central Missouri today. Since we just returned from South Florida, the mild con...

Traveling Blind

Those of us who love to travel look forward to seeing new landscapes, whether they are natural, rural or urban.  Some, including myself, als...

Landlubber on the Coast

After ten days on the Gulf Coast of South Florida, we will head north tomorrow.  It has been a pleasant, relaxing visit with fabulous, mild ...

Crested Caracaras

The crested caracara, also known as the Mexican eagle, northern caracara or Audubon's caracara, is a widespread member of the falcon fam...

East to the Prairie

This morning, we left the watery landscape of the Gulf Coast and headed east to the dry prairie region of central Florida.  Following Florid...

Feisty Sanderlings

Sanderlings, one of the most widespread shorebirds on Planet Earth, breed on the Arctic tundra and winter along sandy beaches and mudflats a...

Beach Topography

I have long been enamored with landscape and, the greater the topographic relief, the better.  So, while I thoroughly enjoy our visits to Fl...

Leaping Rays

After a beach walk on Longboat Key, Florida, I stopped to survey the flat, blue Gulf of Mexico.  Scanning with my binoculars, I noticed a la...

Longboat's Shifting Beach

Longboat Key is a long, narrow barrier island off the west coast of Florida, stretching between Anna Marie Island, off Bradenton, and Lido K...

Gulf of Mexico Gannets

The northern gannets of North America breed in six large colonies along the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the coast of Newfoundland.  Adults arri...

Longboat Key Parakeets

Longboat Key, off Sarasota, Florida, boasts a wide variety of resident and migrant birds.  The great majority are aquatic species such as pe...

Edge of the South

Where does the American South begin?  As a child, traveling to the Gulf Coast on summer vacations, I determined that it was somewhere beyond...

Crossing Rivers

Heading for our condo on Longboat Key, Florida, we left Columbia this morning and drove east on I-70, undulating across the southern edge of...

Summer Kill

Most of us are very familiar with winter kill, the toll that ice storms, deep snow and severe cold take on plants, wildlife and humans as we...

The Nature of Retirement

Today will be my last at the University of Missouri and the last of my thirty-six year career as a private or employed physician.  Though I ...

Lassen Peak

Rising just north of the Sierra Nevada Range, Lassen Peak (10,461 feet) and its cohort of volcanic domes represent the southern end of the C...

Meant to Happen

One often hears the phrase "Everything happens for a reason."  Does this reflect our natural tendency to look on the bright side o...

Myanmar's Earthquake

About 90 million years ago (MYA), during the Cretaceous reign of Tyrannosaurus rex, the Indian Subcontinent split from the Antarctic Plate a...

Snows in the Night

Soon after going to bed last evening, I was awakened by the distinctive calls of snow geese as they passed over Columbia.  Catching a ride o...

The Nature of Heroes

General David Petraeus has become the latest American hero to fall from grace, revealing that he is, in fact, human.  Unfortunately, as a so...

Escaping Brutus

Following a night of gusty winds and rattling windows, Winter Storm Brutus (so named by the Weather Channel), pushed into Metro Denver this ...

Winds of Change

For the past few days, a downsloping, southwesterly breeze has scoured the Front Range urban corridor, yielding sunny skies, warm temperatur...

A Victory for Nature

The re-election of President Obama is a victory for nature, a sign that many Americans care about our natural environment and reject the cla...

Skittish Visitors

On this mild, sunny, crystal-clear morning, we took a walk along the South Platte River in Littleton, Colorado.  The usual mix of waterfowl ...

Crossing High Pressure

Heading to our Littleton, Colorado, farm, we left Columbia this morning, enveloped in a steady rain.  The copious precipitation, falling thr...

Messing with Space-Time

Getting prepared for work this morning, I noticed that my favorite college football roundup was not on ESPN and, when I arrived at the hospi...

The Bighorn Mountains

Over 200 miles in length, the Bighorn Mountains stretch from north-central Wyoming into southern Montana.  This range, which angles southeas...

A Close Second

Coming on the heels of glorious October, the month of November is not welcomed by many of us in the Northern Hemisphere.  Though it is offic...

Lessons from Sandy

Though Hurricane Sandy, which evolved into Nor'Easter Sandy and then Superstorm Sandy, has already been labeled "historic, unpreced...

Sandy's Left Turn

Most tropical cyclones that move up the eastern coast of North America either veer out to sea or continue to parallel the shoreline, raking ...

Starved Rock State Park

The Illinois River watershed extends from the headwaters of the Des Plaines River, in southeast Wisconsin, and the upper tributaries of the ...

Up the Illinois River

After zigzagging across the Mississippi floodplain, north of St. Peters, Missouri, we crossed the river on the Golden Eagle ferry as a bald ...

Duck Weather at Eagle Bluffs

This morning, I arrived at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, on the Missouri River floodplain, under a blanket of low clouds.  Curtains of rai...

The McGovern Rift

Back in the early 1970s, as an opponent of the Vietnam War and a potential draftee (if not accepted to medical school), I supported George M...