Philip Kiefer
Popular Science
New Orleans, LA, United States
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Past articles by Philip:
Beavers, snails, and elephants are top grads from nature’s college of engineering
What makes an organism an ecosystem engineer? The impact could be as widely transformative as a beaver's logging, or as niche as a cat's shadow. → Read More
Humans and nature will handle rising tides, together
How will we shield US coastlines from sea level rise? Most experts agree on combining hard infrastructure, like sea walls and levees, and natural engineering, like wetlands. → Read More
This fall, use weather data to see when birds are migrating near you
BirdCast is like an evening weather forecast, radar maps and all, but for millions of birds migrating across the US. → Read More
This at-home radio sensor could help monitor symptoms of patients with Parkinson’s
The sensor, which is kind of like radar for humans, was able to track the mobility of patients with Parkinson's as they moved at home. → Read More
We’re surprisingly good at surviving amputations
A new study argued that a leg amputation would be a near death-sentence without sophisticated medicine. But then how did people survive them before modern medicine? → Read More
Sperm whale clans tell each other apart by their accents
The deep-diving whales teach each other special songs to distinguish one clan from another across the entire ocean. → Read More
The terroir of wildfire: How winemakers are adapting to a smokier world
As wildfires get ever-more common, winemakers are figuring out how smoke impacts grapes, if (and how) they can control those effects, and if drinkers might like it. → Read More
A pocketful of bacteria helps these beetles through their most dramatic life changes
Two species of soybean-eating-beetle have developed "pockets" for storing beneficial bacteria as they go through metamorphosis. → Read More
A second asteroid may have crashed into Earth as the dinosaurs died
If confirmed as a crater, it would have crashed into Earth within a million years of the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. → Read More
Ancient milk-drinkers were just fine with their lactose intolerance–until famine struck
Ancient farmers drank milk well before they could fully digest it. But when times got bad, a source of nutrition turned poisonous. → Read More
The White House (sort of) has a plan to create more-resilient COVID vaccines
A White House summit on next-generation COVID vaccines laid out a roadmap to ending transmission of variants, but was short on firm financial commitments. → Read More
The wackiest-looking birds are the most at risk for extinction
Animals with offbeat traits, such as vultures with naked heads and hooked beaks, often play specialized roles in ecosystems. → Read More
Monkeypox isn’t an STI. So why are health officials focused on sex?
Public health efforts have focused on the immediate need to control an outbreak that's spread during sex. But long-term control may look different. → Read More
Why NASA is sending a dust-scanning spectrometer to the ISS
The color of Earth's dust storms shape the climate, but we don’t know how. → Read More
Underneath Florida pines, gophers are getting weird
Gopher burrows are full of roots. Does that mean they're farming the forest floor? → Read More
Omicron variants keep getting better at dodging our immune systems
BA.5, like other Omicron subvariants, has spread widely because it's so good at reinfecting people who've already had COVID. → Read More
How hungry, stingless wasps became USDA’s weapon of choice to save southern citrus trees
USDA officials are releasing hungry stingless wasps to hunt pests called psyllids, which can spread a damaging disease to citrus trees. → Read More
The Supreme Court’s EPA ruling may spell doom for US climate goals
Clean energy and emissions goals set by the Biden administration will be nearly impossible to meet now, according to experts. → Read More
Watch bobcats, bears, and even birds use fallen logs as bridges
Camera traps provided video footage of wildlife using restored log jams to cross rivers, rest, and hunt in western Oregon. → Read More
Do animals feel pain? Science author Ed Yong says that’s the wrong question.
Do animals feel pain? In his new book 'An Immense World,' Ed Yong takes a deeper look at this sensory question. → Read More