Harlem from above

The Healthcare Wars of 1920s Harlem

In the 1920s, Harlem’s population was growing quickly. A wide variety of “magico-religious workers” emerged to respond to the community’s needs.
Star Trek: Discovery

What Star Trek: Discovery Can Tell Us About Tech and Social Progress

What makes Star Trek essential for any contemporary tech user is its role in helping us understand our relationship to technology.
Tuna fish

What Makes Fish Swim Fast

How do fish swim? Having fins and tails help, But it takes more than that to be fast and avoid danger. Diving into fish physics.
Dachshund dog

What Does It Mean to Own an Animal?

Those who view animals as property misunderstand the nature of property, a legal scholar suggests.
Scientists working in lab

To Save the Threatened, Scientists Clone Cacao, Fertilize Mollusks, and Hunt Porpoises

All over the world, researchers are trying to better understand a world in constant flux and to prevent species from extinction as they battle for survival.
Orca Juvenile

Starving Killer Whales Are Losing Most of Their Babies

The southern resident killer whales of the northeast Pacific are in trouble. As habitats and food dwindle, they increasingly miscarry and lose their babies.
Cat playing Peek a Boo in a box

The Ig Nobels: The Lighter Side of Scientific Research

What exactly are the Ig Nobels? And what can we learn from the Journal of Irreproducible Results and the Annals of Improbable Results?
India Campbell and Child

The New Victims of Climate Change: Plants, Parasites, and Pregnant Women

The recent series of hurricanes has demonstrated, climate change is no longer a nebulous futuristic menace, but an existential threat.
A dwarf epauletted fruit bat flying

Why Human Echolocators Will Never Be As Precise As Bats

Research seems to indicate that human echolocation is surprisingly sophisticated, and may aid a deeper understanding of hearing and sensory perception.
Piper Cub plane farmers

An Airplane in Every Barn?

Why airborne farming hasn’t been cleared for take-off.