Mankind—both the builder and the destroyer—has left his mark on the world. But it’s also true that the world is shaped by the minute operations of seemingly insignificant organisms. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the sea and along its margins. At research centers like C-MORE, scientists study how microscopic organisms regulate the chemistry…
Category: Hana Hou
Inflight magazine of Hawaiian Airlines.
Making Waves
Story by Dennis Hollier Photos by Charles E. Freeman High up Tantalus Drive, on a ridge overlooking the Honolulu skyline, Don Mussell practices the occult art of radio. As the broadcast engineer for Hawai‘i Public Radio, Mussell installs and maintains all its equipment. Today he’s come up the mountain to check on HPR’s new powerhouse:…
Hybrid Beauty
story by Dennis Hollier photo by Linda Ching “Nasty plant.” That’s what my mother used to call the anthurium. With its long, jutting spadix, the nickname is probably inevitable. And it’s likely that this jaunty, priapic charm — along with brilliant colors, gorgeous, heart-shaped leaves and exceptional vase life — makes the anthurium the king…
Raising the Reef
story by Dennis Hollier The Waikiki Aquarium might seem modest compared with some of the super-aquariums that have sprouted around the country. It doesn’t offer the drama of great white sharks, like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, for example, or of whale sharks, like the Georgia Aquarium. But it does offer exhibits of astonishing beauty and…
Mapping the Void
story by Dennis Hollier photos, courtesy Shawn K. K. MurakawaNOAA Fisheries Far out in the North Pacific, a loggerhead turtle paddles lazily with the current, glutting itself on jellyfish and pelagic snails. The water is tinged green with the plankton and other nutrients that are the basis of life in the ocean. A vast, warm-water…
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies Story by Dennis Hollier Photo by Brad Goda Craig Sako works the far end of Lake Wilson. From a small boat, he fishes the shallows along the banks, orchestrating one elaborate cast after another. His rod is a simple bamboo pole with a line tied to the tip, like a child…
Mystery of the Avocado
story by Dennis Hollier photo by Jack Wolford Down at the farmers market at Kapi‘olani Community College, Ken Love and I watch people file through his avocado-tasting booth. Under the canopy, there’s a cornucopia of avocados. Love has lugged in more than 300 pounds of them from the Big Island. The avocado mavens quietly sample…
Ancient Pathways
story by Dennis Hollier photos by Monte Costa Late on a warm evening in June of 1867, the postmaster Henry Greenwell disembarked from a schooner in the scruffy West Hawai‘i port of Kawaihae. Being a punctilious man, Greenwell had no plans to tarry there. In his bags, he carried the overland mail for Kalukalu, and…
Worlds Apart
story by Dennis Hollier photos by Sergio Goes Yellow crazy ants have invaded Mokoli‘i. They swarm over every inch of the tiny islet off the Windward coast of O‘ahu that, because of its distinctive conic profile, is better known as “Chinaman’s Hat.” The small, long-legged ants have profoundly modified what’s left of the native habitat:…
Reservoir Cats
story by Dennis Hollier photo by Ann Cecil “We’ve got clams,” says Knud Lingard, bending down to rake up a passel of corbicula—Pacific clams—from the mudflats of Nu‘uanu Reservoir. The clams are just one of the surprises here, high in Nu‘uanu Valley on O‘ahu. The lake, which once supplied drinking water to Honolulu, is also…