Science Spotlight

Beaches initially form where waves and currents move sand deposited by coastal streams. The shape of a shoreline and human structures like harbors and jetties influence where sand piles up.

They sneak silently into their nests an hour before sunrise, after spending a day and a night hunting at sea. Hundreds of feet off the ground, they settle into the highest branches of old-growth trees.

The waters of Monterey Bay may obscure potential dangers. Far below the surface are seismically active faults that could be the site of offshore earthquakes in the bay.

Spiky proteins called mucins allow banana slugs to crawl over all kinds of ground cover.