Category: Biology

A family album of evolutionary trees

Guest post by Theodore W. Pietsch When most people think of trees, they envision the leafy-green, growing, photosynthesizing kind, but there’s a vast forest out there made up of an entirely different kind of tree—branching diagrams and related iconography that attempt to reveal the relationships of plants and animals. For at least the past 500 years, …

In like a polar bear . . . out like James Franco

No roaring lions (only polar bears) heralded the end of our mild winter here in Baltimore. Read on to see what we've been up to, who we've been meeting (can anyone say James Franco?), and what's in the works at the JHU Press. Journals News In an effort to help raise awareness about health issues…

Probing the reproductive revolution in a time of heated politics

By Brendan Coyne, exhibits and awards manager If you've been paying any attention at all to our political discourse in recent weeks you know that reproduction is a hot and controversial topic. From Susan G. Komen for the Cure to insuring contraception for women, uncomfortable questions about sex and power and religion have forced their…

Happy International Polar Bear Day

Guest post by Andrew E. Derocher, Ph.D. February 27 is International Polar Bear Day but it’s a safe bet that polar bears throughout the Arctic aren't paying much attention. Nonetheless, any bear living at the northern reaches of land near Ellesmere Island or northern Greenland might be celebrating: celebrating the return of the sun. Given that the…