Q: How is it that cactus wrens don’t impale themselves when they land on or nest in a saguaro or a cholla? Do they possess some kind of tiny body armor to protect against getting poked? A: Randy Bapp, a biologist at the state Game and Fish Department, said every now and then, the cactus wrens ...

Q: I’d like to plant some mesquite, but I’ve heard they sprout best after passing through the alimentary canal of a bird or a cow or some other animal. Without such an animal, will they still sprout? A: Did you know they used to use mesquite wood to pave streets in some towns in Texas? That ...

Q: If Tucson and Phoenix are both in the desert, why is it always just a little bit cooler in Tucson than it is in the Valley? A: Tucson is usually a little bit cooler than Phoenix because it is a little bit higher up. You may not actually have a sense of ascending when you ...

Here at Valley 101 headquarters, white-coated lab technicians have been working round-the-clock to answer one of the greatest questions ever to cross the Valley 101 transom: Do your feet get bigger when you move to the desert? You know, we spent hours flipping pancakes, doing day labor, weeding soybeans to get through college, followed by years of ...

Here at the Valley 101 Research Center and Windshield Squeegeeing Service, we have amassed a collection of three questions about saguaros, those noble cactuses that symbolize Arizona just as surely as do recall elections. And we now endeavor to answer these queries with, as always, the help of Patrick Quirk of the Desert Botanical Gardens, who ...