A grizzly bear c. 1955

The Scientist Who Wanted Grizzly Bears Eliminated

In the late 1960s, two highly visible deaths from grizzly bear attacks led to a debate about whether humans and bears could coexist.
Artificial intelligence. Male open head with cyberbrain inside.

Are the Posthumans Here Yet?

Implanting machine components into human bodies, argues one scholar, could make for a better society.
Operation Crossroads

Bombs and the Bikini Atoll

The haute beachwear known as the bikini was named after a string of islands turned into a nuclear wasteland by atomic bomb testing.
fire lights the hills from a controlled burn off of maize stubble on a farm property at Makikihi in South Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand.

The Global Suppression of Indigenous Fire Management

Indigenous peoples' techniques to manage and benefit from fire are threatened, even as wildfires burn more frequently and intensely.
Workers at the offices of the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, 1946. At the time the Courier was one of the top-selling African-American newspapers in the United States.

The Black Press and Disinformation on Facebook

The Black Press historically has countered disinformation that targeted Black voters, but now it is financially connected to Facebook itself.
A smartphone in someone's hand

5 Questions to Ask before Joining a Social Network

Clubhouse reminds us of what early adopters forget: Leadership diversity is crucial to platform safety.
Ynés Mexía

Ynés Mexía: Botanical Trailblazer

This Mexican-American botanist fought against the harshness of both nature and society to follow her passion for plant collecting.
Usnea antarctica

The Unsung Heroine of Lichenology

Elke Mackenzie’s moments of self-citation illuminate the hopes of someone who, against ease and tradition, did not wish to separate her identity from her research.
The Bobcat Fire burns through the Angeles National Forest on September 11, 2020 north of Monrovia, California.

A Recipe for Ancient Wildfires

The earliest wildfires raged long before humans, and they only needed three ingredients to get started.
Botanical manuscript of 450 watercolors of flowers and plants

Plant of the Month: Dittany

Did women in the premodern world have much agency over reproduction? Their use of plants like dittany suggests that they did.