DOUGLAS QUENQUA

Kurt Cobain once sang, “It’s OK to eat fish, cause they don’t have any feels.” He must have been on to something because not even the Humane Society, which never met a slo-mo video of an abused animal it couldn’t set to sad music, has nothing to say on the topic of fish welfare. But one brave researcher at Case Western Reserve University decided to study the issue. He found that fish become aggressive when kept in tanks that are too small or sparsely decorated. Take that, Kurt.

Filed under: 2011, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times

It used to go like this: You graduate from high school. You lose touch with pretty much everyone. You grow up. One day you get an invite to your 20-year high school reunion. You go. You laugh at the fatter, dimmer versions of all those people you never liked anyway. Maybe you reconnect with one or two old friends. You go home. Life goes on.

Not anymore. Now, thanks to Facebook, the “reunions” happen online, leaving very few surprises for the actual party. Some people love it – they say it lets them skip the small talk. Others say it’s ruined the whole thing. Either way I think we can all agree they need to serve better booze. In today’s Sunday Styles section, Remember Me From Yesterday?

Filed under: 2011, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times

Okapis are the wallflowers of the forest, so adept at avoiding interaction–even with other okapis–that western zoologists didn’t even document their existence till 1901. The calves don’t defecate for the first six months of their lives so predators can’t track them. That’s dedication. Getting these things to breed in captivity is not easy, so when a zoo pulls it off–like the Bronx Zoo recently did–they like to crow about it a little. From the Science section of the Times, For a Baby Okapi, Don’t Push Too Hard.

Filed under: 2011, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times