How can we stop the next Camp Fire? (Wired)
by Matt Simon
The devastating fires in California are the result of a number of interlocking issues including climate change, population growth, and forest management choices. Mitigating these issues to stop future disasters is possible, if we’re willing to pay for it.

Can text messages stop suicides? (Huffington Post)
by Jason Cherkis
Suicide is a national epidemic. A promising treatment model encourages therapists to simply stay in touch with patients. But scaling it up could be tricky in an age of worries about privacy and legal liability.

A history of the sweet potato marshmallow casserole (Quartz)
by Rosie Spinks
There may be no dish more American than the marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole some of us eat for Thanksgiving. It’s a blend of Old and New World flavors dreamed up as a corporate marketing scheme.

The racism of alien builder stories (Hyperallergic)
by Sarah E. Bond
For more than a century, Europeans and white Americans have been speculating that aliens may have been behind ancient wonders of Africa and the Americas. But why don’t any of them credit aliens with the Parthenon or the Roman Forum?

The super-bee born in a monastery (Atlas Obscura)
by Anne Ewbank
One of the most impressive honey-producing bees was engineered by a monk. Turns out, if you’re trying to selectively breed an insect that mates with dozens of males, in the air, during a two-mile flight, isolation and patience really help.

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