Two-thirds of this planet is covered by water inhabited by an incredible variety of living organisms, ranging in size from microbe to whale, and in abundance from scarce to uncountable. Whales and dolphins must surface to breathe, and some fishes occupy surface waters and can easily be seen from boats or shore, but most of the marine bio-profusion is hidden from human eyes, often under thousands of feet and millions of tons of water, which is usually...

It may sound like the set-up for a joke-"A playwright, a philosopher, and a general walk into party..." But, some 2,500 years after it was written, Plato's Symposium remains a key text for philosophers, historians, writers, artists, and politicians. Plato imagines a dinner party-a symposium-held in the Athens of the late fifth century b.c. He invites seven important historical figures including the philosopher Socrates, the comic playwright Aristophanes,...

Studies the giant squid and discusses what facts are known about it, why there is so little data available, where the few specimens have been found, and other related topics.