tiny fur tree growing after forest fire

It’s the End of the World as We Know It. Is there Any Room for Optimism?

Climate scientists tend to be optimistic and have faith that humanity can engineer our way out of the climate change we’ve created.
Young woman drinking a green smoothie after training

Why Clean Eating Can’t Save Your Soul

If hunger is moral purity, self-care a purchasable commodity, and wellness a stand-in for thinness, what does health really mean?
Mother and daughter using smartphone

6 Ways to be a Digital Mentor to Your Kids

What’s involved in being a digital mentor? People have been asking me various version of this question in ...
Spider web

Six Surprising Facts About Spiderwebs

Intricate, strong, and rapidly-built, spider webs are more amazing even than they first appear. For a construction job done right, get a spider to do it.
dead fish float in a polluted river

A Dead Fish “Vitamin Pill,” Microbes that Put Dinner on the Table, and a Truck that Runs On Cow Manure

From microbial biochemistry to recycling dead fish to manure-to-energy converters, here’s this week’s most surprising sustainability news.
Urania painting

Before the Civil War, Women Were Welcomed into the Sciences

Women in the STEM fields are reclaiming the memory of a richer scientific past than some might think.
Solar Eclipse

An Eclipse is a Scientific Bonanza

On August 21, 2017, North America’s first total solar eclipse in a while will cross the center of the United States from East to West.
Victorian eclipse

Solar Eclipse Tourism: The Victorians Were the Pioneers

People have been planning for this month's total solar eclipse for years. They aren't the first to do so: the Victorians pioneered eclipse tourism.
Water carrier

The Story Behind “The Parisian Water-Carrier”

Who was the "Parisian water-carrier" depicted in eighteenth-century French sculptor Edme Bouchardon’s sketches, and how did he earn his living?
Brain illustration

Are Male and Female Brains Actually Different?

No study, even those finding strong differences, has ever found differences in cognitive ability between male and female brains.