Articles

Born in Kenya in 1903 to Anglican missionaries, Louis Leakey (in his mother's arms outside the family's mud and thatch house) was initiated as a youth into the Kikuyu tribe. "I still often think in Kikuyu, dream in Kikuyu," he wrote in a 1937 autobiography.

The Old Man of Olduvai Gorge

Irrepressible Louis Leakey, patriarch of the fossil-hunting family, championed the search for human origins in Africa, attracting criticism and praise

Owens River, Sierra Nevada

California Scheming

Los Angeles' insatiable thirst for water, which drained the Owens Valley, has ruined lives, shaped the city's politics and provoked ongoing controversy

George Silk

Clutch Shot Clinches Fall Classic

As part of her cover, Frances Clayton took up gambling, cigar-smoking and swearing.

Covert Force

Hundreds of women fought in the civil war disguised as men

Scientists believe the bacteria may hold clues to the origins of life itself.

Subterranean Surprises

Scientists are discovering that caves more complex than we ever imagined may yield vast riches about the origins of life

Kakapos eat many fruits but particularly enjoy rimu fruit, which seems to encourage breeding.

Going to Extremes

Without the extraordinary dedication of a few conservationists, New Zealand's kakapo would likely have gone the way of the dodo

A star in stripes: Paul Rhymer and John Matthews prep a zebra for display in the new mammal hall.

Bats Will Scatter

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Net Gains

A California biologist discovered a new insect species and then caught evolution in the act

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Rain Man

Snow, sleet, hail or volcanic eruption cloud physicist Peter Hobbs will find a way to fly into it

The Blue Lagoon

Eye in the Sky

A French photographer's aerial portraits of Iceland's Blue Lagoon, cotton bales in Ivory Coast, a tulip field in Holland document a world of fragile beauty

As the natives got ready to serve A midget explorer named Merve; "This meal will be brief," Said the cannibal chief, "For this is at best an hors d'oeuvre." —Ed Cunningham

The Limerick is Furtive and Mean...

From the Maigue poets to Ogden Nash, witty wordsmiths have delighted in composing the oft-risqué five-line verses

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Pursuing Perfection

The Summer of My Greek Taverna: A Memoir

Book Reviews: The Summer of My Greek Taverna

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Uncommon Valor

When two Naval officers entered the inferno of the Pentagon's west flank to search for survivors, they put their own lives on the line

A doctor before she became an educator, Maria Montessori developed strategies and materials that, a century later, are being adopted by more and more classrooms (such as this one in Landover, Maryland).

Madam Montessori

Fifty years after her death, innovative Italian educator Maria Montessori still gets high marks

Star formation in the constellation Orion as photographed in infrared by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

Astronomy's New Stars

Thanks to new technology, backyard stargazers have traveled light-years of late to join professionals in mapping the heavens

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Sondheim!

A summer festival showcases the wit and artistry of the musical-theater master, drawing "nuts" from all over

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Just a Snapshot?

Amphitheater excavations uncovered a set of fancifully carved bone flutes.

First City in the New World?

Peru's Caral suggests civilization emerged in the Americas 1,000 years earlier than experts believed

Presley in a Sun Records promotional photograph, 1954

Boy Wonder

For a few fleeting moments in 1956, Elvis Presley was still an unaffected kid from Tupelo, Mississippi, and the road to stardom seemed paved in possibility

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