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Blue-stained serpentine Neotyphodium coenophialum mycelia inhabiting the intercellular spaces of tall fescue leaf sheath tissue. Magnified 400x.

Better Farming Through Endophytes

Scientists look to “probiotics” for crops as a new green revolution in agriculture.

Cabinet of Curiosities

Saint Stephen and Saint Christopher

Christopher, the Dog-Headed Saint

Although the tradition has largely faded in the Western church, Saint Christopher sported a canine head through much of Christian history.

Reading Lists

Cute tiny people reading different books, giant textbooks. Concept of book world, readers at library, literature lovers or fans. Colorful vector illustration in flat cartoon style

Speculative Fiction: A Reading List

Speculative fiction, from Afrofuturism to Star Wars, offers students tools and methods for analyzing social movements, power structures, and utopian thinking.

The Where We Were

Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany.

The Reichstag Building Rises

Built at the end of the 1800s and rebuilt a century later, Berlin’s Reichstag building has proven a malleable symbol of political and social values.

Annotations

Bill of Rights, 1791

The Bill of Rights: Annotated

Proposed as a compromise to ensure the ratification of the new US Constitution, the Bill of Rights has become a critical protector of civil liberties.

Most Recent

Conceptual image of green server room.

Is AI Good for the Planet?

The algorithms that promise to predict wildfires and optimize energy grids are powered by servers that drink up rivers and belch out more carbon than cars.
Thomas Robert Malthus by John Linnell

Misunderstood Malthus

The English thinker whose name is synonymous with doom and gloom has lessons for today.

More Stories

Cabinet of Curiosities

Saint Stephen and Saint Christopher

Christopher, the Dog-Headed Saint

Although the tradition has largely faded in the Western church, Saint Christopher sported a canine head through much of Christian history.

Reading Lists

Cute tiny people reading different books, giant textbooks. Concept of book world, readers at library, literature lovers or fans. Colorful vector illustration in flat cartoon style

Speculative Fiction: A Reading List

Speculative fiction, from Afrofuturism to Star Wars, offers students tools and methods for analyzing social movements, power structures, and utopian thinking.

The Where We Were

Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany.

The Reichstag Building Rises

Built at the end of the 1800s and rebuilt a century later, Berlin’s Reichstag building has proven a malleable symbol of political and social values.

Annotations

Bill of Rights, 1791

The Bill of Rights: Annotated

Proposed as a compromise to ensure the ratification of the new US Constitution, the Bill of Rights has become a critical protector of civil liberties.

Long Reads

Books of imagination. Surreal art. fantasy painting. Books flying in the clouds.

Speculative Fiction: Beyond a Novel’s Entertainment Value

The classroom is a place to equip students to better understand the world as it was and is. Speculative fiction can help.
In this aerial view the 'Sycamore Gap' tree on Hadrian's Wall lies on the ground leaving behind only a stump in the spot it once proudly stood, on September 28, 2023 northeast of Haltwhistle, England. The tree, which was apparently felled overnight, was one of the UK's most photographed and appeared in the 1991 Kevin Costner film "Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves."

An Untimely Death at Sycamore Gap

The outcry over the violent felling of a beloved tree in 2023 affirms the power trees hold in our cultural memory.
Atlantic Salmon

Taking “Stock” of Salmon and Word Choice

The long debate over spawning habits and genetics belies the problems caused by categorizing fish with a term associated with finance and breeding.
Photo taken by FBI agents in Jonestown following the Jonestown massacre of November 18, 1978.

One Woman’s Path to Jonestown

While the events that led to the Jonestown massacre included profound tragedy, the life—and death—of one of its residents offers lessons on community and resilience.

Caught in nature’s own flypaper, insects are preserved more perfectly than almost anywhere else; some beetles even retained the color of their shells.

La Brea and Beyond

Conceptual image of green server room.

Is AI Good for the Planet?

The algorithms that promise to predict wildfires and optimize energy grids are powered by servers that drink up rivers and belch out more carbon than cars.
Illustration of carbon capture technology which uses filter technology to remove the green house gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it underground.

Who Owns the Ground Beneath Your Feet?

Carbon removal, a proposed solution to climate change, will require the injection of CO2 underground—but under whose property?
A man scrambles up a gully on the Crestone Needle in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado.

How Science Might Help Keep Wild Places Wild

Recreation researchers are studying how to minimize human impact on public lands while maximizing accessibility.