This piece explores some recreational and cultural-exploration excursions on the island of Mauritius off the southeastern coast of Africa. Its coverage includes both leisurely activities--such as strolling along the island´s placid, scenic beaches--to more adventurous outings, like hiking in the Black River Gorges National Park. The article provides a good sense of the multilayered cultural heritage of the island, and encourages taking in local food, music, and religious ceremonies.

This piece provides a concise summary of octopus intelligence. It covers some of the basic observations and experiments suggesting that these marine cephalopods have surprisingly robust brainpower, as well as a brief exploration of the possible evolutionary pressure on octopuses to become somewhat smarter than the average invertebrate. The word count provided does not include two references/resources I´ve included at the end, in case that´s helpful.

The Voynich manuscript is an enigmatic book dating from the 15th century, written in indecipherable script and festooned with illustrations depicting everything from mysterious plants to Zodiacal symbols. This 660-word article provides an overview of the manuscript´s contents and history.

While it’s only been comparatively recently that human beings have identified viruses and their taxonomy, the diseases that can result from viral infection have been long known and feared. This article provides an overview of virus biology and pathology, as well as the ongoing research into the complexities of these parasites’ relationships with living organisms.

While some hikers hope to see bears when on the trail, others fear an aggressive encounter. A traveler well-versed in bear-country etiquette and procedure usually has no trouble with these striking animals, but run-ins are always a possibility. This 2,067-word piece describes basic bear safety in hiking and backpacking situations, focusing on black and grizzly bears (and not on polar bears).

Planting trees doesn’t just have community-aesthetics and environmental-education benefits: The act is founded on real ecological impacts that can address landscape degradation and enrich local biodiversity. This 606-word piece provides an overview of some of the practical and positive ramifications.