Suryatapa Jha

Suryatapa Jha is Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology at Scripps College. She has a PhD in Plant Biology from the University of Vermont and completed her postdoctoral research at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University. Her research interests center on evolutionary cell biology and plant-environment interactions. In 2022, she was a Virtual Faculty Resident at the Dumbarton Oaks Plant Humanities Initiative.

A botanical illustration of Indigofera tinctoria from La botanique de J.J. Rousseau, 1805

Plant of the Month

Plant of the Month: Indigo

The cultivation of this plant for its cherished blue dye tells the story of exploitative agricultural practices—and, hopefully, its reversal.

Editors' Picks

Doing Math with Intellectual Humility

Math class is an opportunity to teach students both how to use conjecture to arrive at knowledge and how to learn from the logic of peers.

Willie Mae Thornton Deserves Your Full Attention

In a meditative new biography, DJ and scholar Lynnée Denise examines the mysteries and trials in the life of the legendary performer.

Politics & History

The Fourteenth Amendment: Annotated

Adopted in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution addresses citizenship rights, due process, and equal protection under the law.

Education & Society

Class Production

A collection of high school yearbooks from Cleveland captures the rise, fall, and uncertain future of the American middle class.

Education & Society

Intellectual Humility: Foundations and Key Concepts

Research about intellectual humility has exploded in the past decade. Psychologist Elizabeth Krumrei-Mancuso offers an annotated bibliography of key texts.