May 23, 2013 — Plants have many strategies for manipulating animals to do their bidding. Some flowers focus the attention of their pollinators with a familiar pick-me-up--caffeine. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss the natural world.  Go to full article

Paul Smiths, NY, Apr 25, 2013 — Once so numerous they darkened the sky for days while migrating, passenger pigeons arrived in this region in early May each year. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley remember this once ubiquitous species wiped out by human hunting in the nineteenth century.  Go to full article

Paul Smiths, NY, Apr 18, 2013 — Everyone is familiar with how bees and insects distribute pollen from one flower to another, but that's not the only way to get the job done. Some night-blooming plants are pollinated by bats, when bright floral colors are invisible. And hummingbirds might just get their nectar without picking up any pollen. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley discuss the unusual strategies some plants can use to attract and hold the interest of the unusual animals that pollinate them.  Go to full article

Apr 11, 2013 — More than one in five Americans engage in bird watching. Now, researchers at Cornell University are making it easier to identify different species with an artificial intelligence program called Merlin.  Go to full article

Paul Smiths, NY, Apr 11, 2013 — Why do Leaf Cutter Ants cut leaves? Nesting material, food? As Martha Foley and Curt Stager explain, these ants are composting. What they actually eat grows on the rotting leaves.  Go to full article

Paul Smiths, NY, Mar 28, 2013 — Some flowers open quickly, and some are even spring-loaded--like the venus fly trap--but the floral deployment speed record belongs to the lowly dogwood relative, the bunchberry, which when triggered opens its tiny four-petal bloom in less than a millisecond. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss flower power.  Go to full article

Mar 26, 2013 — After years as a poet, sculptor, weaver and painter, West Potsdam artist Becky Harblin says she only recently discovered what may well be her real passion for art: pastels.

Originally from Peru, in the Champlain Valley, Harblin has traveled and lived around the country. She worked for The New Yorker magazine in the 80's but decided that a rural life was more fitting to her. She and her husband, Don, raise a small flock of sheep, veggies and herbs on their farm near Potsdam. Her love for plants and the environment has led her to embrace shamanism.

Harblin studied art in college, where she says she dabbled in pastels. It was just last summer that she took the brightly colored sticks of pure pigment more seriously. Todd Moe stopped by her home studio.  Go to full article

Paul Smiths, NY, Mar 21, 2013 — Martha Foley mows her lawn just before the dandelions go to seed, hoping to keep their numbers down, but there's another whole crop right behind--why? Dr. Curt Stager dug into the story and found the answer in the sex life--or lack thereof--of dandelions.  Go to full article

Paul Smiths, NY, Mar 14, 2013 — "Old as the hills" is a relative term. The Adirondacks may be relatively young mountains, but their distinctive grey granite, anorthosite, originated 1.1 billion ago, so deep in the earth's crust that only continental collision could have formed it. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley discuss Adirondack geology.  Go to full article

Paul Smiths, NY, Mar 07, 2013 — A common sight is fresh water shallows, sunfish provide an excellent opportunity to observe fish behavior. Dr. Curt Stager talks with Martha Foley about the two main varieties, the pumpkinseed and the bluegill. It may be hard to tell one from another, unless of course, you're a sunfish.  Go to full article