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May Wang

May Wang

May Wang is a Brooklyn-based writer celebrating the intersections of culture, history, and ecology. She was the 2020–22 Writing and Reporting Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, where she covered the institution’s research initiatives and historic gardens. She received her A.B. in comparative literature and a secondary in astrophysics from Harvard University, focusing on concepts of physics, geography, and evolution in nineteenth-century novels, particularly those of George Eliot. Her work has also appeared in the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Magazine, the Plant Humanities Lab, and the Harvard Political Review.

Tourists look at icebergs that have broken off of receding Breidamerkurjokull glacier, which looms behind, at Jokulsarlon lake on August 15, 2021 near Hof, Iceland.

Minding Tourism’s Communication Gap

Tourism is Iceland’s biggest industry, but tourists and staff are increasingly threatened by extreme weather linked to climate change. How to keep everyone safe?
Computer rendering of the Thirty Meter Telescope

Putting Science in its Place

A new stewardship group for a telescope in Hawai‘i hints at what cooperation between the European scientific tradition and Indigenous knowledge might look like.
From Mundus Subterraneous by Athanasius Kircher, 1641

Where Does Water Come From?

And what does the early modern search for the answer to this question tell us about the “scientific method” we colloquially accept today?
A lichen in a paper coffee cup

Lichen Latte, Anyone?

Irrigation and antibiotics might be appropriate treatments for an animal bite—but maybe you’d prefer to sip a steaming lichen-and-pepper latte instead.
Salamander on finger.

The Next (Salamander) Epidemic

Everybody loves salamanders, especially the exotic pet industry. But importing these amphibians helps spread diseases like Bsal and Bd to native populations.
William Morris at age 53

William Morris, Anti-Capitalist Publisher

By drawing on traditional typefaces for Kelmscott Press, Morris showed that he was unwilling to yield to capitalism’s demands for speed and efficiency.
Bromus diandrus and Bromus tectorum in Zion National Park

The Greening of the Great Basin

The growth of grass in a desert might not seem problematic, but the introduction of invasive species can disrupt plant, animal, and human inhabitants.
François André Michaux, “Cotton Wood,” from The North America Sylva, 1817–19.

Plant of the Month: Poplar

Poplar—ubiquitous in timber, landscape design, and Indigenous medicines—holds new promise in recuperating damaged ecosystems.