Maris Fessenden

 

Maris Fessenden is a freelance science writer and artist who appreciates small things and wide open spaces.

The NIH Lets Its Last Research Chimps Go

These 50 remaining chimpanzees are headed to sanctuaries to enjoy retirement

A modified human skull from the early 6th century

Parents Have Been Reshaping Their Kids’ Skulls for 45,000 Years

A new find in Patagonia adds to the list of possible reasons for such extreme cranial modification

Screenshot from video "Phantom 3 get kidnapped by two eagles"

A Drone Encounters Two Eagles, and the Birds Win

A pair of arial predators snatched a photographer's drone from the skies of Austria

On the left are one type of Myxozoan-- spores of Kudoa iwatai--microorganisms recently reclassified as a member of the same group that includes jellyfish like the Aurelia aurita (moon jelly) on the right.

This Parasite Is Really a Micro-Jellyfish

Somewhere along its evolution this jellyfish-turned-parasite got really strange

An adult Rhodnius prolixus (kissing bug) on the right and large nymph on the left

Five Things to Know about Kissing Bugs and Chagas Disease

The disease-causing parasite spread by biting bugs has spread beyond the tropical world

Humans enjoying the Curcubita fruits they helped save, after probably contributing to their wild cousins' demise

Domestication Saved the Pumpkin (and Squash)

The pumpkin in that holiday pie wouldn't be here today without domestication

The Hidden Costs of Having a Gifted Child

Exceptional talent in children can be a source of financial and emotional stress for parents who don’t feel equipped

John Steinbeck

Steinbeck’s Boat the "Western Flyer" Will Voyage Again for Science

The $1 million boat will see the water once again as an updated research vessel

Wide-angle view of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko taken by OSIRIS on 12 September 2014

Watch the Philae Lander's Bouncing Touch Down on Comet 67P

A year after its crash-landing, researchers reflect on the unexpected successes of the mission

A group of escaped former slaves gathered at the plantation of Confederate General Thomas Drayton. After Federal troops occupied the plantation they began to harvest and gin cotton for their own profit

A Free Man's Letter to A Former Slaveowner in 1865

When asked to return to the farm where he was held in bondage, Jourdon Anderson wrote this thoughtful reply

Ships along the Mississippi River in New Orleans

Is $30 Million Enough to Save the Mississippi River Basin?

The USDA has a plan to help the troubled watershed

George Harrison’s master tapes for "All Things Must Pass" (pictured here in 1970) are likely well preserved, but many similar audio tapes of the era could be deteriorating.

History and Culture of the 1960s to 1980s Is Disintegrating With the Tapes That Recorded It

But a new test and a bit of chemistry can help preserve the past

Cougars Are Returning to the Midwest

A team of scientists predicts that the big cat could establish new breeding populations in Arkansas and Missouri in the next 25 years

The Apollo 17 Saturn V rocket, the last human flight to the moon, on its launch pad at dusk on November 21, 1972

Help Save the Booster that Sent Apollo Spacecrafts to the Moon

A Kickstarter campaign hopest to save the only remaining booster rocket from the Apollo launches

Humans may have raided wild honeybees' nests during the Stone Age -- this hive in a hollow log hive from Cévennes (France) reveals the details of the circular comb architecture ancient humans would have discovered.

Our Ancient Ancestors Probably Loved Honey Too

Residue scraped from pottery shows humans used bee products as long as 8,500 years ago

Amedeo Modigliani, "Nu Couché," 1917

This Is the Second-Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold At Auction

Amedeo Modigliani's Nu Couché drew a stunning $170.4 million

Researcher Julien Louys holds the jaw bone of an ancient giant rat species discovered in East Timor (left) and the same bone from a modern rat (right)

Fossils Show Ancient Rats Were the Size of a Small Dog

And our ancient ancestors likely ate them

A photo of the Hydrus before the ship sank in November, 1913

Divers Discover 102-Year-Old Shipwreck in Lake Huron

The Hydrus and her crew were lost during the Great Storm of 1913

A hellish landscape drawing newly attributed to Hieronymus Bosch

New Hieronymus Bosch Drawing Found in Private Art Collection

The hellish landscape is "an exceptionally important addition" to Bosch's grim work

It's getting too hot in here

Could Climate Change Mean Less Sex and Fewer Babies?

Even if it does, perhaps that's not a bad thing

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