Scientists decided to name some newly discovered tree frogs in Madagascar based on the boops and trills they make, which reminded the researchers of Star Trek. Among the scientific names for these critters that belong to the rare Boophis frog genus...
The autocomplete function on your phone comes in handy, of course. But is it changing the way we write and how linguists study language? Also, suppose you could invite any two authors, living or dead, to dinner. Who’s on your guest list and...
The California superbloom included Nemophila maculata, a white blossom with a dab of purple at the end of each of five petals. It’s also called fivespot. The maculata in the scientific name derives from Latin macula, meaning...
The scientific name for that part of a fowl otherwise known as the pope’s nose or the bishop’s nose is uropygium. The Greek root of this word, pyge, meaning “rump,” is also found in the English adjectives callipygian, which...
Kim from Osoyoos, British Columbia, Canada, is studying anatomy and wonders why the lower end of one’s sternum is called the xiphoid process. The word process in this case means projection, and xiphoid comes from the Greek word for sword...
I have a new neighbor, and I’ve been electronically snooping on him or her. I say “him or her” because the surveillance device is the PandaCam at the San Diego Zoo, which welcomed a bouncing baby panda a few weeks ago. And as the...
