The leg of this purple ochre sea star in Oregon is disintegrating, as it dies from sea star wasting syndrome. Photo by Elizabeth Cerny-Chipman, courtesy of Oregon State University.

The Long Quest to Uncover a Sea Star Killing Bacteria

Scientists say they’ve found the cause of a marine epidemic more than ten years after it started. What took so long?
A selection of pages from the The Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries Bibliotheca Fictiva collection

Enchanting Imposters

Johns Hopkins University’s Bibliotheca Fictiva Collection of Literary and Historical Forgery shows that humans have been creating fan fiction and fake news for millennia.
An old Lego character from the 80s on a green Lego surface.

LEGO: Brick by Ideological Brick

Toys, even ones marketed as tools for the imagination, are never value neutral.
Claudia Zenteno, activist and environmental defender of the Xochimilco wetlands, sails a raft to a chinampa on April 17, 2021 in Xochimilco, Mexico.

Old Wet Farms, New Pain Meds, and New Chemistry

Well-researched stories from Mongabay, Ars Technica, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Schröder-Schräder House

Building De Stijl Style

Piet Mondrian, co-founder of De Stijl, argued that the art movement wasn’t ready for architecture. Theo van Doesburg and others believed it was. Who was right?
pumpkins, squashes and gourds , dried a corn cob with kernels and dried beans were randomly spread on a wooden plate on a black background.

The Macronutrients of the Three Sisters System

If the intercropping of beans, squash, and corn produces smaller yields, why did the the Haudenosaunee prefer the Three Sisters system?
Cross Reference image

For the Love of Gamers and Goals, It’s Cross Reference!

Or maybe this week’s puzzle is really about Greek salad and gulleys.
Candace Tustin in the Corner Cupboard Food Bank on March 1, 2018 in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.

Listening to White Working-Class Women in Coal Country

Researchers interviewed women in a Pennsylvania coal-mining town to understand how they coped with social and economic changes tied to deindustrialization.
Five children read the new "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" book on July 8, 2000 in El Paso, Texas.

The Enduring Popularity of Harry Potter

How has the Harry Potter series remained so beloved across decades filled with young adult and fantasy novels?
Dancers prepare to enter the contest powwow at the 100th Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial at Red Rock Park on August 13, 2022

Honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day: A Reading List

With scholarship on Indigenous knowledge, environmental justice, resistance, and decolonization, this list honors Native sovereignty and self-determination.