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Nature Moments

Nature Moments: Sex Ed for Botanists

Another fascinating installment from Bowdoin professor and Maine Audubon trustee Nat Wheelwright: Gender in humans turns out to be more complicated than we once thought, but gender in plants is pretty complicated, too. Plants can have separate sexes, like most animals, or they can be hermaphroditic …

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Nature Moments: Fungi on the Move

Nat Wheelwright's latest "Nature Moments" video takes a closer look at the rich world of fungi: Fungi use mushrooms to disperse their offspring, much like plants use fruits. The spores of fungi can be spread by wind, by animals, or by a combination. But stinkhorns do it by smelling like rotting …

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Nature Moments: Why Do Leaves Change Color?

Nat Wheelwright's latest "Nature Moments" video is especially timely: The last thing deciduous trees do before dropping their leaves in the fall is salvage nutrients that they can reuse next year. In the process, they reveal orange and yellow colors. Red is a different story: it serves as an autumn …

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Nature Moments: Sharing Your Lawn with Bugs

Bowdoin professor and biologist Nat Wheelwright describes his latest "Nature Moments" video this way: You'd have to really hate butterflies, beetles and bugs to spread insecticides all over your lawn. Once you take a closer look at the ingredients and cautions, you may decide to share your lawn …

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Nature Moments: Swimming with Leeches

Bowdoin professor and biologist Nat Wheelwright explains his latest video: I used to be afraid of leeches until I tried a simple experiment which showed that they much prefer frogs. Now I'd much rather swim in a natural pond than a sterile chlorinated pool. If you want to make your own natural …

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