Kathleen M. Blee is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. Blee’s book, Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920’s, was first published with critical acclaim in …
You don’t see them very often, but California has more kinds of owls than you might realize. Fifteen species in fact, give or take a few. This uncertainty makes a lot of …
Butterflies are such a common sight that we can be excused for thinking we understand these beautiful insects. They fly around on big floppy wings, visit flowers, and their larvae are called …
Galls are something you can be forgiven for overlooking, but they’re an important and surprisingly common feature of the natural world. In fact, gall expert Ron Russo has found as many as …
Winter is a special time in one of California’s most distinctive and widespread plant communities. Whether you travel to the dusty hillsides of southern California, to the fog drenched slopes of the …
Beetles may be California’s most exuberant expression of life. Over 7000 species have been discovered in California and many more await discovery. Beetles are fascinating to study because they have so many …
The deserts of Southern California are dusty and strewn with cacti, blisteringly hot in summer and utterly devoid of rainfall for months at a stretch. Who would think that amphibians would be …
There are few events in nature more exhilarating then standing on an ocean beach in the brisk winds of autumn as flocks of shorebirds mill about at the water’s edge. The wind …
Long after the summer grasses of California turn golden in the valleys and foothills, spring is in full bloom in the High Sierra. Here on the highest peaks above 10,000 feet, flowers …
Michael Welland is a geologist who has worked around the world in the energy industry. He is a fellow of the Geological Societies of America and London and the Royal Society for …