When you listen to Greta Binford talk about biodiversity, the tree of life, biogeography, Gondwana, migratory pathways for monarch butterflies or many other topics, it is easy to understand why she was Oregon’s Teacher of the Year in 2011. She takes scientific facts and principles, and tells them like stories, in a way that anyone would find fascinating. Professor Binford has traveled the globe finding fascinating flora and fauna and of course, her favorite- spiders.