Lord Howe’s walking stick. Does this sound familiar, like maybe the murder weapon in P. D. James’ latest mystery novel?  Actually, the full name is the Lord Howe Island Walking Stick (LHIWS), a ginormous, flightless insect once thought to inhabit only a tiny island off the east coast of Australia.…  [more]

Before my family and I pulled into our cottage in the Huron country town of Goderich, Ontario, we passed a large field of wind-powered electrical generators – a wind farm. I didn’t know the exact function of these massive, almost alien-like machines then, but I knew the words forming in…  [more]

Anyone who spends time outside is aware that summer in many parts of North America is synonymous with mosquito season. Mosquitoes are found on most continents in astonishing variety. Over 3,500 species exist, a few hundred of which bite humans and other animals. “Why did God create mosquitoes?” most of…  [more]

My family regularly visits our county parks. We love letting our children run wild (within limits) at the playground, take part in T-ball games and ride their bikes through the nearby arboretum. Recently, though, these parks became the subject of intense debate in our community. A county plan to expand…  [more]

We all love cheap gas. Watching the “sale” meter out race “gallons” at four times the pace and then seeing the hefty total can produce a slight feeling of shock. For me, vivid memories from my childhood of an oil crisis of decades past began to surface. Turmoil in a…  [more]