Put a dolphin’s front flipper in an X-ray machine, and you will see a surprise: an arc of humanlike finger bones. The same goes for a sea turtle, a seal, a manatee and a whale. All of these animals had four-legged ancestors that lived on land. As their various lineages adapted to life in the water, what had been multidigit limbs slowly transformed into flippers.

The Hawaii Forest Institute has been awarded an $8,979 grant to encourage Hawaii’s residents and businesses to grow native Hawaiian and Polynesian-introduced (“canoe”) plants, as well as to increase public awareness of the value and benefits of planting native plants and trees.

A rainbow is spotted in Kailua-Kona’s Palisades neighborhood in July. (Amy Simonson/Community Contributor)

During the summer, my cooking takes a noticeable shift. I put traditional composed dishes — like, say, a lasagna or roast chicken with potatoes — on the back burner in favor of one-bowl vegetable grab-bags to eat all the peak-summer produce I can get my hands on. This salad is one of those dishes, and I’ll eat it over and over until the vegetables vanish from the markets.

A salad without dressing is just a pile of limp, uninspired lettuce.

Basil has long been considered the “king of herbs” because it is so flavorful and versatile.

Do you store garlic bulbs on the kitchen counter or in the refrigerator or pantry? You might want to rethink that.

There’s a reason olive oil is a favorite eating and cooking oil.

If there’s any task I hate more than hauling out a week’s worth of garbage to the curb on the eve of trash day, it’s having to clean out the fridge beforehand to get rid of all the uneaten leftovers.

Peak summer tomatoes are sweet enough to eat alone or layered into a simple salad, but sometimes they need a little heft to turn into a meal. Enter bruschetta.

A gecko hangs out at a gecko-sized house. (Michele Warhola/Community Contributor)