Maris Fessenden

 

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

The lush forests in Hawaii may have shaped its language

How Language Evolved from Climate and Terrain

Try shouting words into the wind, what sounds make it through?

This Man Got Cancer from a Tapeworm

A very strange case challenges some assumptions about parasites

Soldiers of the 44th Division at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in a gas mask drill. The experiments however, exposed troops to chemical weapons without such protection.

The Tragic Aftermath of Mustard Gas Experiments in World War II

An NPR investigation is looking for victims of the U.S. military tests

Saiga antelope with two calves at the Black Earth Nature Reserve in Kalmykia, Russia

The Culprits Behind Mysterious Mass Antelope Deaths Finally Exposed

More than half of the world's endangered saiga antelopes died suddenly on the Central Asian steppes last spring

A 2,000-Year-Old Greek Fortress Has Been Unearthed in Jerusalem

The fort played a role in the Jewish revolts that inspired Hanukkah

Forget the Hazy Clouds—The Internet is in the Ocean

This new video explores the 550,000 miles of cable that keeps the internet humming

An illustration of Ornithomimus based on the findings of preserved tail feathers and soft tissue

New Fossils Show Ostrich-like Dinosaurs Sported a Coat of Plumage

Bits of ancient feathers and skin still clung to the exquisitely preserved fossils

According to This 1919 Writing Guide, There Are Only 37 Possible Stories

From love and disaster to "a miracle of God," the 96-year-old manual outlines every known plot

Weak Skeletons May Have Spelled the End for Mammoths

New results suggest that weak bones made the beasts more susceptible to human hunters

Coywolves Are Taking Over Eastern North America

Coywolves are not 'shy wolves'—they are coyote-wolf hybrids (with some dog mixed in) and now number in the millions

Singing sand dunes in the Gobi Desert

Why the Sands of Many Dunes Sing, Boom, and Even Burp

Contrary to Marco Polo's tales, it's not because they're full of mysterious spirits

A woman herds cattle on horseback at Dumbell Ranch in Wyoming

The Modern Cost of Cattle Rustling

Why the Old West crime is still a multimillion-dollar problem

Pliobates cataloniae, a newly discovered ancient ape

Tiny Ancient Skeleton Redefines the Split Between Monkeys and Apes

The last common ancestor of all apes may have been smaller than previously thought

Why Do Witch Hunts Still Happen?

Across the globe, witchcraft fears still lead to torture and murder

An expert at work on a painting at the Opificio Delle Pietre Dure

Inside the Italian Art Hospital That Rescues Old Paintings

A catastrophic flood gave this Florence workshop a new mission

Scientists gather around the Yuka mammoth, which was so well-preserved in the permafrost its brain was mostly intact

Ice Age Cave Lion Cubs and a Look Back at Permafrost Mummies

A recent find in Siberia is the latest on a list of well-preserved Ice Age mammals

The Hard Labor of Apple Picking

A skilled farm worker can pick six tons of apples a day

Archeologists working at the Upward Sun River site in Alaska, where they found the 11,500-year-old remains of two infants

Ice Age Babies Buried in Alaska Reveals Early Genetic Diversity in North America

The infants’ DNA shows that humans may have stayed near the Bering Strait for thousands of years before moving farther south

A hiker is dwarfed by the landscape of the mountain plateau where the Viking sword was found

Hiker Accidentally Discovers 1,200-Year-Old Viking Sword in Norway

The wrought iron weapon is an extraordinary find

Genetically Edited Hercules Dogs Can Pack on Extra Muscles

Scientists use a natural mutation that produces extra muscle to tweak dogs genes

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