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IT WAS A CRISP OCTOBER AFTERNOON in Hardwick, a hardscrabble town of 2,900 souls in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, and the door to the Civic Standard was wide open. Kids on [...]

We began to worry about the loon in early December. What was it still doing here? For 18 years, we'd watched the loons come and go from the Vermont lake [...]

The article discusses the concept of basal cognition, which suggests that intelligence and cognitive abilities can exist in organisms without brains. It explores the research of Michael Levin, a biologist at Tufts University, who has been studying the role of bioelectricity in cellular communication and coordination. Levin's experiments with planaria worms and African clawed frogs have shown that changes in voltage can affect cell behavior and development, including regeneration and body shape control. The article challenges the idea that true cognition is exclusive to humans and suggests that intelligence may be more widespread in the natural world. This research has potential implications for understanding the evolution of cognition and could have applications in cancer therapy, organ regeneration, and artificial intelligence. [Extracted from the article]

TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT. After months of thin winter air, a warm breath has blown in from somewhere south, thick with moisture, and the land starts to unfold. The maples [...]

Michael Terrien squats in the field and picks a handful of fruit. He crushes it, squeezing the shockingly purple juice into a plastic beaker. He pours a few drops into [...]

On a frosty February morning in North Carolina s Piedmont region, the enterprising trio who has finally broken America's strange truffle curse walks beneath orderly rows of loblolly pine, trying [...]

The article discusses the changing perspective on sun exposure and the benefits it can have on health. While it has long been believed that sun exposure should be avoided due to the risk of skin cancer, new research suggests that moderate sun exposure can have positive effects on vitamin D production and immune system regulation. Australia has recently issued new guidelines that acknowledge the benefits of sun exposure, while still emphasizing the importance of sun protection. However, in the United States, there has been no reconsideration of the strict avoidance of sun exposure recommended by public health institutions. The article highlights the need for more nuanced and personalized guidelines, as well as the importance of conveying scientific information honestly and transparently. [Extracted from the article]

FEW PEOPLE in the United States had heard of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)--the high-security biolab in Wuhan, China, that does cutting-edge research on coronaviruses--until mid-April, when the Trump [...]

The article explores the Civic Standard, a community center in Hardwick, Vermont, that focuses on building connections and trust among residents. The center offers a range of activities and services, including plays, meals, and community service projects, which have been well-received by the town's residents. The founders of the Civic Standard have personal motivations, including the tragic loss of one founder's son, which has driven their desire to bring the community together. The center has become a vital resource during times of crisis, providing support and assistance to those in need. The article emphasizes the importance of human connection and community in overcoming challenges and fostering a sense of belonging. [Extracted from the article]

Wednesdays are supposed to be the slow day at Hill Farmstead, the cult brewery in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, but on a steamy summer day at 11 a.m.--an hour before it [...]

On a wintry Saturday in the Academic Center of Olin College, 16 teams of high school seniors raced to build device that could be lowered from a balcony to scoop [...]

Byline: Rowan Jacobsen For half a year, Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease official, and Kentucky senator and physician Rand Paul have been locked in a battle over whether the [...]

Appledore Island is a glacier-raked lump of granite six miles off the New Hampshire coast. In shape, colon and smell, it resembles a giant oyster shell. When Sam Hayward, who [...]

It took me just five minutes on the ice at Lake Morey, a two-mile jewel set in a ring of Vermont hills near the New Hampshire border, to realize I'd [...]

The article discusses about the development of artificial proteins for COVID vaccine and revolutionizing biology. Topics of discussion includes the research conducted by Lexis Walls at the University of Washington, for developing proteins that were not derived from components found in nature but consists of artificial microscopic proteins drawn up on a computer, and their creation marked the beginning of an extraordinary ability to treat diseases.

The day I learned I'd been eating dead flour all my life came last summer when I wandered into my local co-op and picked up a loaf of hearth bread [...]

Fixing the human genome is the easy part. The hard part is knowing when to stop. THE FIRST STEP IS a no-brainer. Say you are one of the tens of [...]

On a gray dawn in October, a half mile off a small Maine island far from shore, Micah Woodcock and I found ourselves bobbing in a rowboat precisely where they [...]

Food A single whiff of a truffle can be nearly intoxicating. Depending on the variety, the inhaler might detect notes of garlic, fried cheese and gym socks (white truffles) or [...]

These are the mornings I'll remember. The sky is already lit at 5:00 a.m., the lake like glass. Mist hangs in the hollows on the far shore, ghosted in the [...]

I'm standing on Breezy Hill in the black ink of a Vermont midnight in mid-July, surrounded by savants and telescopes. 'Switching to Mil,' somebody whispers as the barrel of his [...]

The article discusses a research project at the company Ginkgo Bioworks which recreated the DNA sequences associated with scent from an extinct Hawaiian tree, the mountain hibiscus or Hibiscadelphus wilderianus.

Saquish is a long spit of sand and cobble guarding the entrance to Plymouth Bay. It has a few beach houses, marshes and mudflats, and crazy currents. It's also Skip [...]

The road to Scott Farm rises from a strip of Taco Bells and KFCs along T91 in Vermont, quickly turning to dirt as it dives between forested hills. At the [...]

For most of us, the first time is when we re kids. After a full-blown day on the coast, prickly with sunburn, the saline scent of the waves stuck high [...]

The new poster child for climate change had his coming-out party in June 2012, when Petey the puffin chick first went live into thousands of homes and schools all over [...]

Rowan Jacobsen, an award-winning author, recommends a list of books that library patrons may find interesting. The list includes "Totem Salmon" by Freeman House, which explores the efforts of a Northern California community to restore king salmon to their watershed. "The Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan offers a unique perspective on the relationship between humans and plants. "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee is a reference book that delves into the science of gastronomy. "The Dirty Life" by Kristin Kimball tells the story of a journalist who marries a farmer and together they create a community-supported agriculture program. "Agave Spirits" by David Suro Pinera and Gary Paul Nabhan explores the cultural and ecological significance of agave, while "The Salt Stones" by Helen Whybrow captures life on a Vermont hill farm in poetic prose. [Extracted from the article]

While Mike held the loon still, Eric checked it for injuries, feeling his way along its wing and leg bones. They eased it into a box-the loon taking Mike's glove with it-and Eric took it to Lake Champlain, which doesn't freeze over completely, working on a poem about staring into the deathly eye of an eagle as he drove. Eric is always on call to field a question or rescue a loon in trouble, so he was my go-to in August of 2020, when our only chick of the year was killed and eaten by an eagle. We began to worry about the loon in early December. [Extracted from the article]

EACH SPRING, THE RESEARCH SHIP HENRY B. BIGELOW DRAGS A NET ALONG THE SEAFLOOR IN THE GULF OF MAINE, CATALOGUING THE FISH IT CATCHES. WHAT IT FINDS WILL CHANGE THE [...]

Every fall at Maine's Common Ground Country Fair, the Lollapalooza of sustainable agriculture, John Bunker sets out a display of eccentric apples. Last September, once again, they covered every possible [...]

In the woods, we search for spring ephemerals, the tiny ground-huggers that make the briefest of appearances. In weeks, the peepers will have gone silent and the spring beauties will again retreat into the earth. The maples f lush the faintest scarlet, and in the woods behind our farmhouse the spring ephemeral wildflowers are up: trout lily, trillium, bloodroot, spring beauty, Dutchman's breeches. [Extracted from the article]

The article presents the discussion on research playing a role in the pandemic including "humanized" mice genetically engineered having human-like receptors in the lungs grafting the spike proteins from the viruses onto other viruses.

Innovative food producers promise a 'fauxtein revolution' with their pea powders and cricket flour. But is the stuff any good for us? By Rowan Jacobsen This morning I drank a [...]

The article reports that idea that the coronavirus pandemic have been triggered by a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China, that was dismissed as a racist conspiracy theory of the alt-right. Topics include examines that the story burst into the public discourse as the U.S. President Joe Biden demanded an investigation by U.S. intelligence.

Michael Terrien squats in the field and picks a handful of fruit. Crushed by a global tsunami of highbush blueberries, more and more of Maine's 485 remaining blueberry growers are giving up, despite having the most flavorful blueberries on the planet. Now the state and its blueberry growers would very much like Martin and Terrien to go big. Martin and Terrien, who grew up in Maine and still return each summer with their families, began making wine out of their favorite fruit nine years ago. [Extracted from the article]

Dog-harvested truffles command ten times the price of raked truffles, and truffle-dog competitions have become wildly popular. Radmila Karlic, the fifty-something matriarch of Karlic Tartufi, ' ' the multigenerational family business that has agreed to take me truffle hunting, is cleaning truffles outside when I arrive. Some countries without truffle-dog cultures have experienced waves of prospectors mining the topsoil with rakes and heavy equipment, which harvests unripe as well as ripe truffles and destroys the soil biota, but now truffle dogs are being embraced in many new places. FEATURES THE VILLAGE OF PALADINI, on Croatia's Istrian Peninsula, has a population of forty-seven people and ninety-nine truffle dogs. [Extracted from the article]

ROBIN SEELEY SAW them back in the summer of 2008, in Cobscook Bay, a pristine Maine estuary near the Canadian border. 'All of a sudden this small fleet of blue [...]

The article discusses the conspiracy theories that the covid-19 disease was from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China, and U.S. President Donald Trump's move to blame China for the pandemic as a way to hide his administration's inept handling of the virus. Also cited are how the WIV project was financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the leaked communications showing that the U.S. failed to provide support to WIV when it asked assistance.

Features THREE MILES OFF THE COAST OF DOMINICA, ON A FLAT BLUE CARIBBEAN SEA, PERNELL FRANCIS LOWERS A HYDROPHONE INTO THE WATER AND SLIDES A PAIR OF HEADPHONES OVER HIS EARS. While Gaelin and Stacy leap into action, zipping up wetsuits, triple- checking the seal on their Nauticam housing, adjusting ISO and aperture settings for the morning light, Pernell and I join Jerry on the flybridge, scanning the horizon for the white choo choo puff of a sperm whale's breath. Gaelin is photographing her preeminent tremendousness, Stacy is shooting Gaelin, Pernell is tooling around with a selfie stick, and I'm trying to capture them all. Clockwise: The author with a young whale; Pernell Francis listening for whales; Gaelin and Stacy Rosenwaks Gaelin with a mother and child sperm whale IM DOUBLE-CHECKING THAT THE GOPRO IS RECORDING WHEN I LOOK AHEAD AND, GOOD GOD, 15 TONS OF GARGANTUAN WEIRDNESS IS COMING AT ME WITH PURPOSE. [Extracted from the article]

There are truffle-dog schools, truffle-dog festivals and truffle-dog breeds, the most famous of which - Lagotto Romagnolos - can fetch $8,500 a pup. They're the opposite of my Euro pean truffle experiences, where truffles are often served in rich, monotone dishes, and it occurs to me that truffles have been prisoners to their price tag, forced into a world of stuffy luxury that isn't in their nature. Many are synthetically flavored, so for the real deal, check the ingredient list for "truffles" rather than other terms like "truffle essence" or "truffle flavor". To taste Oregon truffles, try Tucker's Truffle Oil, available on Etsy. [Extracted from the article]