A Day in the Life of Kayla

5:55 am - I habitually dismiss my alarm clock and roll over. 6:00 am - I again switch off the second alarm, groaning as I reach for my Ipad to see what the world's been up to while I’ve visited dream world. While I’m deleting useless emails and checking out how my traveling frog is …

Using Predators to Fight off Invasive Pests!

I recently read an article in the Metero paper on how Indonesia is planning to release 3K wasps to help protect their crops from the invasive mealybug infestation that has already hit in country.  This concept was interesting to me as they plan to use natural predators, natures own to fight off an invasive pest that threatens …

Hands on Fact

Being a Scientist is a challenging process but it can be rewarding.  Like any field of study, its often about hitting the books and kramming in as much specialized jargon as ones brain can maintain.  But from experience I can tell you, going into the field and armed to learn about this terminology is one of the …

Plants for Mars

The basic components for life are CO2/O2 (depending on your origins), water, and light.  Without these as far as we know, nothing can grow.  So how do we colonize a planet with CO2, light and water that has a lot of rocks and is colder than Earth (cough, Mars)? We take lichen of course!  The symbiotic relationship …

new breeding strategies in frogs

The white spotted bush frogfrog (raorchestes chalazodes), thought to have been extinct for 100 years was rediscovered in the bamboo forest in the western ghats mountain range! Originally local to south India this little frog comes in at 25mm or less in length. What is unique about this little frog is that when they breed, …

Ayahuasca

A plant known as Ayahuasca can be found in the Amazon, used by the local aboriginals as a hallucinogenic when brewed properly which induces a near death experience.  This plant was discovered by an ethnobotanist in the 1950's. In a book by Beatriz Caiuby Labate and Clancy Cavnar on the Therapeutic Use of Ayahuasca, Jose …

Herbs for every day

Many plants that grow wildly and domestically in Ontario have healing properties that we could take advantage of without having to over use western pills for simple issues such as sleep, indigestion, muscle aches and pains, and headaches. Some common herbs that can be harvested include: Thyme: Leaves of the home plant can be used …

Tilling the garden day and night

In my garden at home my Grandpa and I take care of the remnants of my Grandmothers bulbs and bushes.  The garden beds used to be lush with full flowering rose bushes, brilliant trumpet daffodils and red tulips.  My uncle even put in a lovely rock garden along the driveway which is home to a …