Bathymetrical Chart of the Oceans showing the Deeps According to Sir John Murray, 1912

Wait, There’s Noise Pollution at the Bottom of the Ocean?

Anthropogenic sounds have made it all the way down into the deepest place on Earth—Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench.
Dried flowers

Which Flowers Bloom First and Why?

A massive collection of dried flower specimens demonstrates that climate change disrupts the timing of spring blooms.
Nurses withdraw blood for testing from a volunteer taking part in the AIDSVAX B/E vaccine trial July 18, 2002 at the Boon Mee Clinic in Bangkok, Thailand.

RV144: The Largest HIV Vaccine Trial in History

One of the biggest advances in AIDS vaccine research was a controversial, landmark treatment that tested a new vaccine on 16,000 Thai volunteers.
A beached whale painting

The Tragicomedy of Johanna the Super Whale

How a beached cetacean triggered one whale of a controversy.
Small white flowers bloom on the end of a cherry tree branch near the base of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC.

Is Your Favorite Tree an Invasive Species?

Some superstar trees in the US are actually invasive to their ecosystems. Blossoming cherry trees, for example.
An illustration of the Whole Earth Catalog over a 90s computer graphic

The Whole Earth Catalog, Where Counterculture Met Cyberculture

Long before Facebook or Twitter, an L.L. Bean-style catalog for hippies inspired the creation of one of the world’s first social networks.
Charles David Keeling & George W. Bush, 2001

How Charles Keeling Measured the Rise of Carbon Dioxide

The climate scientist created a new method to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide. It's still used today.
Watercolor No.185, Marsh Ragwort

Victorian Botanical Paintings

Amateur botanist Margaret Rebecca Dickinson painted the wildflowers she collected in the English countryside.
Depressed teen girl in black clothes playing guitar sitting on bed in her room.

Why Do We Listen to Sad Music?

Scientists investigate the emotional and physical effects of sad music, in an ongoing quest to explain the "paradox of pleasurable sadness."
Litograph of A. Faguet, Dracaena stricta

Plant of the Month: Cordyline

Plantfluencers? Back in the nineteenth century, it was the dazzling leaves of cordyline that set trends in domestic style.