Under ideal circumstances, we can do a lot of good. But when circumstances handicap or restrict our potential—in ways we cannot circumvent—we just do the best that we can.

That principle is true for humans as well as in the water-filtering services of the humble bivalves we call oysters—according to recent research involving the University of Maryland.^1,2

May and June are abuzz with busy bees, really clever bumblebees.^1,2 And their practical cleverness continues to astonish researchers, as a recently published study in the journal Science illustrates.^3,4

God’s handiwork is not just apparent in the amazing complexity of individual creatures, but also in how they interact to form vital parts of entire ecosystems and even to keep life on this planet functioning as a whole.

It’s springtime in New England—an important season for maple syrup production.

The maple syrup season is short, only lasting between four and six weeks. The flavor of syrup can change depending on when it is gathered during that time.¹ The syrup is gathered by attaching buckets to trees with spouts sticking into the trees’ bark.

One lone elm tree survived a deadly “elm disease.”