Matching Blog Posts

A spring flower of Hepatica Uncategorized

Herbalism and the Doctrine of Signatures

Do medicinal plants cure ills?
olives on a wooden spoon Uncategorized

You Can’t Spell “Olive” Without L-I-V-E

More than a delicacy, olives have a close relationship with the spread of Western civilization.
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From The Dead, Springs Life

People envision healthy, natural forests as places full of green trees.  This is not accurate. In natural forests, the dead trees are not harvested for ...
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Spring: Whether it’s the Weather (or not).

Phenology is the study of when things happen, such as when trees leaf out after winter, or flowers bloom, or migratory birds arrive. March and ...
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Biophilia In Our Genes

Many of us remember our mothers saying “You kids, go outside and play!”  Some kids were happy to play outside, and others not.  Many lines ...
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Manioc Rocks

A Nigerian manioc farmer with roots from one plant. The leaves (behind her) are used in popular dishes. Most Americans are familiar with the prepared ...
A Doberman dog Uncategorized

Come, Sit, Stay. Domestication of Animals

It is hard to imagine our lives without domesticated animals. We have our partners who share our homes, such as dogs and cats, and then ...
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Who put the Smile in Smilax?

First published June 14, 2021 by Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The genus Smilax is one of our most common woodland plants. Known as greenbriar, sweetbriar, or catbriar, ...
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Precision, Accuracy, and a Challenge to Science

Scientists describe, measure, and compare. With improved technology we have increasingly precise measurements. But, sometimes precision and accuracy are not the same thing. Consider the ...
Students with professor outside looking at insects Scientific Publications

Why I Teach Introductory Courses

This essay represents a lecture I gave when I won the Ohio State University Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest teaching award OSU gives. ...