A photograph of Cyanea pohaku from The indigenous trees of the Hawaiian Islands (1913)

Cyanea Pohaku: The Plant Discovered Right Before Extinction

Cyanea pohaku, the extinction of which can be traced to human interventions in the environment, was gone before we had a chance to really study it.
Robert Englund in movie art for the film 'A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master', 1988.

Freddy Krueger, Folkloric Monster

Many aspects of Freddy Krueger's backstory and actions in A Nightmare on Elm Street echo portrayals of the folkloric bogeyman who targets children.
This artist concept depicts "multiple-transiting planet systems," which are stars with more than one planet.

To Find a New World, Watch How a Planet Dances with Its Star

Finding a tiny planet around bright stars dozens or hundreds of light-years from Earth is extremely difficult.
An image created with Adobe Firefly using the prompt, "a room full of students creating art on computers"

AI and the Creative Process: Part Three

The multifaceted nature of creativity subverts the assumption it’s a human endeavor exclusively—meaning we might need to radically re-think the definition of “art.”
Saint Clare of Montefalco

Autopsy of a Saint

In the late thirteenth century, followers of the Italian abbess Clare of Montefalco dissected her heart in search of a crucifix.
An AI image generated using Adobe Firefly, depicting a painting of a group of 6 people gathered around a toilet in a gallery

AI and the Creative Process: Part Two

Though technological innovation has always influenced considerations of art—think of Duchamp’s controversial urinal—the constant throughout is human touch.
Bride of Frankenstein, 1935

Bride of Frankenstein

Drawn from the margins of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, the cinematic Bride of Frankenstein is never just one thing, and she never goes away.
An image generated using Adobe Firefly

AI and the Creative Process: Part One

How does generative artificial intelligence upend conventional understandings of who is and what makes for a true artist?

Osage Nation, Chinese Exams, and Dead Spiders

Well-researched stories from Aeon, CrimeReads, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
From a pamphlet about the discovery of a witch, 1643

Sex and the Single Witch

On witch-hunting and the pursuit of sexual knowledge in early-modern England.