Devin Reese

Did you know that women had to fight their way into the field of astronomy? Just a century ago, there were no professional female astronomers. By the turn of the 20th century, observatories were hiring women as “computers” to enter and crunch data, but not to conduct research or officially teach. Yet, women like Cecilia Payne who were determined to work in astronomy eventually prevailed, and they paved the way for other women to follow. Payne’s work was key to the system of star classificatio...

If you take a walk around the Arlington Central Library, you can’t miss the gardens. Even on a fall day when deciduous plants have let go their leaves and annuals have died, the mosaic of trees and shrubs marked with botanical signs draws your attention. ARMN volunteer Yu-Hsin Hsu observes that, “People look at the signs, and take a picture. You hear parents talking to kids about nature. I remember a father showing a kid a plant they rec...

Carolyn Elya is the Zombiologist in Chief, aka incoming Assistant Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. She’s been obsessed with parasites for a while, but it was the flies zombified by a fungus that made them climb, perch, and die that really caught her fancy. We talked with Carolyn about how fungi control flies and other insects, and the evolutionary implications for the zombie-making fungus and its doomed victims.
This episode was produced by Devin Reese and mi...

Tasmanian tigers may have outlived their extinction date
They weren’t really tigers, but they were Tasmanian, ranging from Tasmania to Australia and New Guinea. After they were hunted to extinction in the wild, the last “thylacine” (official name; Thylacinus cynocephalus) was this one that died in 1936 in an Australian Zoo. Or was it?
Since then, multiple people reported sightings of the striped, wolf-like creatures nicknamed Tasmanian Tigers. Many of the observations — such as blurry photos ...

You may have seen bright orange Monarch butterflies around your neighborhood at certain times of the year. As winter sets in, populations of monarchs from the US and Canada migrate south to Mexico to their overwintering spots. There, they shelter by the millions in forests of Oyamel trees, something they’ve been doing for so long that local people consider monarchs the souls of their ancestors. The monarchs arrive there in early November, coinciding with the Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) i...

Jane Baldwin is a storm chaser, only her mode of chasing is computational modeling using multiple streams of data. As an Assistant Professor of Earth System Science at UC Irvine, she models how hurricanes and other natural hazards respond to atmospheric dynamics. We talked to Jane about the challenge of forecasting not just the damage to buildings from cyclones, but also the economic and social impacts. And how climate change factors into the outcomes.
This episode was produced by Devin Reese.

Good morning!
Last week, a fiery meteor streaked across the sky, then burst into bits over the border of Maine and Canada. As a time capsule from our solar system, the bits are so scientifically valuable that a Maine Museum is offering $25K for the first piece weighing at least 2.2 lbs. Find it! Or read on about rainbows, plant talk, and jellyfish nutrition.

Only birds and some mammals (humans and other primates, whales, seals, elephants, bats, goats, mole rats, mice) are known to learn by hearing. Of those, birds are the most distantly related to humans. Yet they show similarities to humans in the way they learn to communicate.

Recently I participated as an ARMN volunteer for a tree planting event at the Ben Brenman Park in Alexandria. The event was hosted by the Tree Stewards of Arlington and Alexandria. When I arrived, an impressively large group of volunteers was watching a tree planting demonstration. D.C. area native and former Coast Guard Officer Bonnie Petry described in meticulous detail how to put tree seedlings in the ground. Although everyone present may have privately thought, “I already know how to plant a tree,” her authority conveyed the loftier goal of giving the tree the best possible chance of survi

Good morning!
As the pandemic raged, Pope Francis took a solo mindful moment in rainy Saint Peter's Square to remind us to “row together,” see HERE. Now his message is going to space on a satellite, in case it didn’t reach its intended target from Earth. While we wait for the June launch, read about cockroach sex, mice playing VR games, and allergies.

In disaster mitigation planning for future large earthquakes, seismic ground motion predictions are a crucial part of early warning systems and seismic hazard mapping. The way the ground moves depends on how the soil layers amplify the seismic waves (described in a mathematical site “amplification factor”). However, geophysical explorations to understand soil conditions are costly, limiting characterization of site amplification factors to date.
A new study by researchers from Hiroshima Unive...

I joined a group of volunteers recently who were getting ready to attack exotic invasive plants on the banks of Lubber Run stream. The site—Woodlawn Park—is a small park tucked into a residential neighborhood in Arlington. Perhaps its diminutive size explains how well its invasive plants are being addressed, or perhaps it should be credited to the enthusiasm and dedication of its volunteers.

Good morning!
T. rex depictions like THESE show sharp teeth protruding in a menacing manner even when its big mouth is closed. But a new study of jawbone pores finds that theropod dinos like T. rex had fleshy lips that would have made their teeth less obvious. So, relax and read on about mummified rams, cockroach sex, and XYZ.

Imagine that you are standing on a grassy plain. As you gaze across the grass, you see two dogs interacting. The bigger dog freezes, tenses its body, and fixes its eyes on the smaller dog. Its lips curl, and it lets out a rumbling growl as the smaller dog stands its ground. The hair on the big dog’s neck bristles up as it moves forward. The smaller dog yelps as it turns its head, tucks its tail in, and flattens its ears. The big dog relaxes and sniffs the smaller dog’s head and butt. Sound fa...

Tommy Dickey is an emeritus oceanographer from U.C. Santa Barbara and Naval Operations Chair in Ocean Sciences. His modeling and observational research yielded ocean monitoring technologies and tools. For retirement, Tommy trains and deploys Great Pyrenees as therapy dogs, while studying scent dogs’ capacity to detect COVID-19. We talked with Tommy about his path from a rural childhood to a career dedicated to oceans.
This episode was produced by Devin Reese and mixed by Collin Warren.