A voter checks in at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3103 polling location on November 8, 2022 in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

What Makes Us Vote the Way We Do?

According to some political scientists, it's more about group identity than personal interests.
A child and old man sitting at a table with their respective music technologies

The Importance of Technological Change in Shaping Generational Perspectives

If we name each generation based on the technological conditions it experienced, generations may soon encompass only a few years apiece.
bezoar goat

From the Belly of a Goat to the Mouth of a King

Bezoars, a strange lump formed in the belly of a goat, once were considered a panacea, and worth more than their weight in gold.
French Revolution Calendar

Why the French Revolution’s “Rational” Calendar Wasn’t

What ever happened to "the most radical attempt in modern history to challenge the Western standard temporal reference framework?"
Woman in multicolored dress.

Microbes Might Paint Your Next Party Dress

The official “fashion month,” September has concluded its parade of gorgeous outfits. These contain harmful dyes, though. Can microbes make safer colors?
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.
Stiff clubmoss (Lycopodium annotinum) in summer

The Many Unexpected Jobs of the Clubmoss Spore

The first working internal combustion machine debuted in 1807, powered by lycopodium powder, which is made of explosive plant spores.
Male bronze-winged jacana

A Father’s Day Shout Out to Animal Dads

This Father's Day, consider some of the busiest, quirkiest, and hardest working dads around—animal dads like the the jacana, Darwin's frog, and seahorse.
Dorothy Bennett in Peru

The Star-Studded Life of Ms. Dorothy Bennett

The wacky life story of the astronomer, author, children's book publisher, and anthropologist who restored an old barge on the Gowanus Canal in 1937.
heath hen

The Sad Story of Booming Ben, Last of the Heath Hens

Grassland-dwelling heath hen and prairie chicken populations across the country are in trouble. Loss of habitat continues to threaten their numbers.