The Science of Sourdough: How Citizens Are Helping Shape the Future of Fermented Foods
Citizen scientists are drawing on personal experience to help researchers create new plant-based fermented foods and maximize their health benefits.
Leviathan Resurrected: Illustration and Astronomy
In the 1840s, the Leviathan of Parsonstown, built by William Parsons, third Earl of Rosse, became the largest telescope in the world.
Natural History: A Reading List
This annotated bibliography samples scholarship on the rich—and difficult—history of natural history.
Colliding Plasma Ejections From the Sun Generate Huge Geomagnetic Storms
Studying them will help scientists monitor future space weather.
The First Lunar Lander and the Great Moon Dust Debate
In 1966, the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon, helping to resolve questions about the nature of the lunar surface.
Why Peat Is a Key Ingredient in Whisky and the Climate Crisis
Approximately 80 percent of Scotch whisky is made using peat as a fuel source for drying barley during the malting process. Is that a problem?
When Everything in the Universe Changed
The revolutionary James Webb Space Telescope and next-gen radio telescopes are probing what’s known as the epoch of reionization.
The Open Polar Sea: Myth and Science at the North Pole
The idea of an open polar sea haunted the imaginations of European explorers and scientists alike in the nineteenth century.
The Secrets of Butterfly Migration, Written in Pollen
Trillions of insects move around the globe each year. Scientists are working on new ways to map those long-distance journeys.
