Episodes

We often think that evolution takes thousands of years. But in rare cases where humans impact small populations, adaptation can work much faster. Take the case of the tuskless elephant. Nearly all male elephants and most females have tusks. These are just elongated lateral incisors that grow outward once the elephant loses its baby teeth. But a small percentage of elephants are born without these teeth and never develop tusks. In 1919, the South African government brought trophy hunters to the E...

This 4th of July, try regaling your fellow revelers with some firework history and, yes, geology. They’ll probably know that fireworks originated in China. But they likely won’t know they started as simple bamboo sticks thrown into a fire. The air inside the hollow stalks expanded, then exploded, making a “crack” that the ancient Chinese used to ward off evil spirits. A few centuries later, legend has it that a kitchen recipe gone awry combined charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur. Who knows what foo...