Nature’s Depths

Walking through nature with John Palka, a neuroscientist who loves plants and ponders big questions

New red alder female cones

By John Palka — Posted October 29, 2017

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Journey Deeper!
Here, find a selection of previous posts on Nature's Depths.
- Flower Forms
  Though flowers affect us deeply, they are the products of evolution and play their own role in the great web of life. This role is independent of human feelings. Flowers are what they are. . . It seems only right that we should examine them closely on their own …
- Lanterns of the Western Woods
  Walking in the western woods in springtime, from Alaska to California, you may notice flashes of brilliant yellow coming from what look like big flowers. What you are seeing is Lysichiton americanum, commonly known as swamp lantern or western skunk cabbage. Both names for these spectacular plants are highly …
- Water Rising
  Water enters a plant through the roots, but it is needed by all of the plant’s living cells. The leaves (or the needles of a conifer) can be several hundred feet above the soil. Trees have no pumps analogous to an animal heart. How, then, does water get to the top of a Doug fir …
- The Trees and I
  In the mid-1970s I had a remarkable experience while walking in ancient forests on the west side of the Cascade Mountains of Washington. . . I was grasping an essential truth that was based on familiar science (relating to genes), but the nature of the grasping had a quality that I was not able to …
- To See a World in a Grain of Sand
  To see a world in a grain of sand—to peer so deeply into the nature of any one thing that the riches of the Universe begin to be revealed—that to me is the essence of science as a quest. Not as a profession or a career, not as a niche in complex modern society, but …
See all previous posts »

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Explorations and Ruminations

The posts on Nature’s Depths come in two forms, Explorations and Ruminations.

An Exploration is an account of the natural world from my point of view as a biologist who loves nature and is fascinated by how it works.

A Rumination is more personal, relating to my study of nature but written primarily as a reflection on what this has meant to me.
About This Blog
To see a world in a grain of sand—to peer so deeply into the nature of any one thing that the riches of the Universe begin to be revealed—that to me is the essence of science as a quest. Not as a profession or a career, not as a niche in complex modern society, but as a quest for understanding your deepest nature. Read More
About the Author: John Palka
I was a professor of biology at the University of Washington in Seattle from 1969 to 2002. My specialty for all of my academic life was neuroscience, but the very first love of my scientific life was the world of plants. It was peering through a microscope at the brightly colored petals and stamens of an Emperor tulip during my first college course in biology that got me hooked, that literally kept me up at night trying to learn as much about living things as I could. Not only that, it played quite a role in my courtship of Yvonne, whom I married a few months after graduation and with whom I continue to share life, love, and interests 55 years later. Read More