Jason E. Andersen

Blog

Welcome to a world of limitless possibilities, where the journey is as exhilarating as the destination, and where every moment is an opportunity to make your mark on the canvas of existence. The only limit is the extent of your imagination.

  • It could be worse

    There isn’t enough time. We all kind of feel that way, right? It’s spring now, so many folks are busy, myself included. There’s a lot going on, and not much time to do it in. It can be… overwhelming. I’ve shared previously about my anxiety and today is one of those days. I thought about just…

  • Color blues

    First, a correction. A few months back I wrote about how blue birds are not really blue because blue feathers aren’t really blue. In that post I said “light passes through the feather and, through the physics magic of refraction, the blue color is what we see.” Well, today I learned that was subtly wrong. It’s not…

  • Scorpion breath

    Bonus Fun Fact: Scorpions can hold their breath for up to 6 days. We’re talking about the desert-dwelling arachnids, not the band. Also, Bonus Bonus Fun Fact: Arachnids, the class of animals that scorpions, spiders, and ticks belong to, aren’t insects. Insects, such as beetles, butterflies, and grasshoppers, are in a completely different class of critter. Arachnids are more-closely…

  • The alpha wolf myth

    This week’s fun fact comes from my wife who, in many ways, is a much better biologist than I am. I’ve always said that I am a terrible wildlife biologist, because I don’t really know anything about mammals. Birds are really where it’s at, after all. Michelle on the other hand, does know about mammals, and is…

  • Bird-induced Happiness

    Bonus Fun Fact: Birds can make you happier! A study in Scientific Reports from last year found that simply being in nature and, even better, seeing or hearing birds can make people feel noticeably happier. This bird-induced happiness has a lasting effect, and can linger for 8 hours or longer.  The effect was also noted across the board in…

  • Exceptions such as

    You know how I say there is almost always an exception in biology, which leads me to use qualifying terms like almost always?  As a follow-up to last week, not all honey is created equal. While some honey may kill babies, other types have healing properties. It’s like the natural world is complicated, or something. Bonus Fun Fact: Manuka…

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