Do yourself a favor: Today is the California Academy of Sciences Free Day. Emphasis on day -- perfect for the funderemployed, who more than anyone deserve a day of brain-melting beauty. So ditch the gray pounding and run-run-run pace of the city, in favor of the 4-story rainforest exhibit, to... More >>

Forty-five bird species. Fifty-two plant species. Twenty orders and 39 families of arthropods. All these have been identified at the California Academy of Sciences, but it’s probably not what you think; these life forms aren’t preserved in exhibits indoors. Rather, they inhabit the... More >>

Anyone who has neglected to visit the California Academy of Sciences is severely missing out, and not even because of the famous undulating grassy roof. One of the first sights to greet visitors is also one of the best: the Mangrove Lagoon holds those vicious angels, the stingrays and the... More >>

In ancient Rome, the god of fertility was honored in February, with ceremonial love lotteries and mock-floggings with a bloody goatskin. Even those are a pale reflection of truly bizarre courtships that unfold in the natural world. For example, the common garden snail is a hermaphrodite that... More >>