What can species as different as a hedgehog, a swift, and a glow-worm possibly have in common? To find out, we journey to southwest England. We’ll join two naturalists on a walk through the heart of Exeter, a city known more for its football club and cathedral than for its wildlife. You may be surprised at what we find.

Does the mane really make the lion? Certainly, luxurious locks are the feature that sets Panthera leo apart from the other large cats. But surprisingly, not all male lions have manes. And back in the early Pleistocene, manes covered more of the lion than just the head.

Ari Daniel Shapiro speaks with archivist Connie Rinaldo of the Biodiversity Heritage Library and Harvard University and curator of mammals Bruce Patterson of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History to learn about the diversity of lions in the distant past and the challenges they face in the present.

Copenhagen Suborbitals, a DIY spaceflight program held tests of their “Beautiful Betty” (formerly named Tycho Deep Space) capsule and Launch Escape System(LES) this morning(4am EST). The purpose of a Launch Escape System is to propel the capsule away from the main rocket in case of an emergency. The test was an over all succes with…

Codecademy, a startup that offers online programming lessons is now offering courses on Python. Their offering of python courses isn’t yet as thorough as those in javascript but they’re working on adding more. Plus you can also create your own courses using their course creator. If you’re serious about learning python, I’d also recommend LearnPythonTheHardway (It’s…

Christopher Pendlebury has created a simple pipetter suitable for dispensing liquid in the 200μL to 1000μL range. Instructions 1. Print StrawPipette.stl 2. If necessary, clean up hole so straw slides in easily. The straw should stay in snugly, but shouldn’t crush the straw. 3. If required, sterilise some drinking straws. 4. Insert straw and use pipette:…

Cyprus is split in half, with a Turkish sector in the north and a Greek sector in the south. The unofficial division makes scientific collaboration in this Mediterranean island nation all but impossible; it also complicates management of the island’s endangered sea turtles. While the conflict between the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots dates back…