Nature Notes

Publication date: April 28, 2026 The bird book is working its way through the production process! The page proofs arrived, with the text and figures laid out as they will appear in the book, and I'm going through them with a fine-tooth comb. I've sent the marketing questionnaire back to the Press, met with the publicity and marketing team and have started lining up post-publication book talks. I'm excited!   Also, I'm giving a free talk Built to Withstand: How Plants Resist Wind and Weight at the Arnold Arboretum Saturday November 15 at noon in the Hunnewell Visitor Center. You can register  here .   Wednesday October 1 So sorry to hear that Jane Goodall died today. But what a life! I heard her speak (and do the  chimp pant-hoot ) at MIT in 1995. Some time ago, my friend Jaime sent me a box of postcards of women scientists; here's hers.     Sunday October 5 Spent the weekend in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, walking at LeCount Hollow beach on the Atlant...

 Fall at the pond   Friday September 7 I gave a Tree Mob "Trees that Shaped the Seas" among the oaks and pines at the Arboretum this afternoon, talking about the different species of trees that were used in wooden ships in colonial times. White oak was commonly used for hulls, as it is denser and stronger than most other locally available woods. The USS Constitution used even denser southern live oak for the frames of the hull and white oak for the planking. Eastern white pine was used for masts as it grew tall and straight. The tropical wood lignum vitae, the densest of all woods (so dense that it sinks in water), was used for block and tackle (pulley systems). A typical colonial navy warship (a "third-rater") required 2000 trees for its construction.  The talk was videotaped; here's the  link . The audio is a little fuzzy at the beginning, but then gets clearer as the talk goes along. I didn't think that the Arb had any live oak, as it is a southern tree,...

Saturday August 2 I'm in Provincetown for the weekend, to stand out on Route 6 with Susan as the Pan Mass Challenge cyclists ride into Ptown on Sunday morning at the end of their fundraiser for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (where Jeannie was treated). But first, Susan has tickets to go on a whale watch this evening with the Center for Coastal Studies, which studies marine ecosystems and tracks whales. Before we even got to Race Point at the tip of the Cape, we spotted a fin whale, the second largest living being on the planet (after the blue whale), very exciting! They are typically 80 feet long, weigh 40-80 tons and can live up to 80-90 years (according to NOAA Fisheries). Further out, we spotted several humpback whales, and watched two that appeared to be hunting together. One, Salt, named for her white scarring on her dorsal fin, has been sighted in Massachusetts Bay every summer since 1975. You can read more about her on the Coastal Studies website  and this ...