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Rick LeCouteur
Inviting young readers to marvel at the wonder of nature's creatures
Rick's Blog
#bunyipsbooksbeyond
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In Memoriam: Jane Goodall 1934-2025 (#405)
This week, the world lost one of its most luminous champions for wildlife, nature, and hope. Dr. Jane Goodall, pioneering primatologist,...
Rick LeCouteur
6 hours ago3 min read
Carl Sagan - Part 3: The future of humanity & the pale blue dot (#404)
I wrote this third part of this series because Carl Sagan’s legacy isn’t only about the tools of skepticism or the politics of science....
Rick LeCouteur
2 days ago3 min read
Carl Sagan - Part 2: Science, politics, and leadership in the age of misinformation (#403)
Carl Sagan never lived to see the current presidency, but his writings anticipated many of the tensions that have arisen during 2025....
Rick LeCouteur
2 days ago3 min read
Carl Sagan - Part 1: Wonder, skepticism, & baloney detection (#402)
Carl Sagan continues to matter. In an age when misinformation and pseudoscience can spread faster than truth, his voice reminds us of the...
Rick LeCouteur
2 days ago4 min read
Words for a Best Friend: When memory fades, love remains (#400)
Alzheimer’s disease is more than a medical diagnosis. It is a thief, silent and merciless, that robs people not only of memory but of...
Rick LeCouteur
Sep 52 min read
The Exam Room Reset: Cole in the middle (#398)
On that morning in 1996, the exam room at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital was already full before the black Labrador...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 264 min read
The Hummingbird Feather: A message and a memory (#397)
Today I found a hummingbird feather while sweeping in the garden. I almost missed it. It was so small. Then I noticed the iridescent...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 233 min read
The Day the Mice Went Dark: The NCI Mouse Repository shuts down (#395)
The NCI Mouse Repository is gone. Here's what we lose and what should happen next. On July 1, 2025, the National Cancer I nstitute (NCI)...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 184 min read
Street Photography: Presence, permission, and the unscripted moment (#390)
Street photography is the making of unstaged photographs of everyday life in public spaces , using observation and timing to reveal a...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 122 min read
Mr. Tom Puss: The ship’s cat of the First Fleet (#387)
In 1787–88 the First Fleet , eleven ships under Captain Arthur Phillip (two naval escorts, six convict transports, and three store...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 94 min read
The Spoils System: Mark Twain’s perspective (#384)
The term spoils system often conjures images of a bygone era in American politics, a time when public offices were distributed as...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 53 min read
The Fragility of Freedom: Lessons from 1933 (#383)
Burning of The Reichstag, 1933 “To know your future, you must know your past” George Santayana (1863-1952) Adolf Hitler’s rapid...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 44 min read
Obesogens: What veterinarians should know (#380)
While diet and exercise are often blamed for rising obesity rates, accumulating evidence points to a less visible culprit—...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 283 min read
Rethinking Willpower: Understanding obesity in a new era (#378)
The rise of weight-loss medications— GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide and tirzepatide —has ignited a storm of admiration, hope,...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 274 min read
Gen Z in the Vet Clinic: Blank stares and busy minds (#371)
I first noticed it in the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Vet students, early twenties, listening intently as a I...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 182 min read
Habeas Corpus: Protecting freedom for centuries (#369)
In 1963, when I was just 12 years old, my history teacher Mr. Lipscombe asked our class a question that would stay with me for life: ...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 102 min read
Science and Democracy: Russell’s call for citizens who build (#368)
Every time I read Bertrand Russell, I wonder how he saw so clearly into the future. His words about science, imagination, and human...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 95 min read
Scientific Writing: Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing (#367)
If there was ever a writer who understood the power of economy and rhythm in prose, it was Elmore Leonard . Known for his razor-sharp...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 94 min read
The Four Desires That Shape Humanity: Acquisitiveness, rivalry, vanity, & power (#366)
In his 1930 work The Conquest of Happiness , Bertrand Russell outlined what he believed were the four fundamental desires driving human...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 83 min read
Golf Course Reality Check: Parkinson’s and pesticides (#365)
Recently, I discovered that three people who lived on Fairway Drive (named for the golf course it leads to) in Davis California had...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 84 min read
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