Maris Fessenden

 

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

Kids Are Drawing Women Scientists More Often Than They Did Decades Ago

But analysis of studies over the past 50 years show that sketches of male scientists still dominate

How a city is arranged can influence whether it heats up in comparison to surrounding areas

Order Makes Cities Easy to Navigate—It May Also Make Them Hotter

Physics and statistics can describe how building patterns relate to cities' tendency to hold heat

Cave art found in India

Did Cave Acoustics Play a Role in the Development of Language?

In a new paper, researchers hypothesize that the location of cave art and sounds early humans heard might be linked

Musicians from the Yanada Shinko perform at Misawa Air Base, Japan, April 6, 2013.

Why Music Is Not a Universal Language

Physics and culture shape music, but as a recent video essay breaks it down, the results are more varied that most people think

This map shows total fishing activity across the world's oceans as detected by satellite tracking.

Tracking Fishing Vessels Reveals Industry's Toll on the Ocean

Satellites and artificial intelligence fill in gaps in global fisheries knowledge

Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park gives a view of Neníisótoyóú’u (Longs Peak) in Colorado, left of center.

This Account is Reclaiming the Indigenous Names for Mountains One Geotag at a Time

A Navajo climber is leading a social media campaign to spread awareness of the indigenous names of peaks

An abstract image because it's hard to see three individual photons.

Scientists Create a New Form of Light by Linking Photons

Photons typically don't interact, but physicists bound three together in the lab

Founders of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst. The group's motto was "deeds, not words," Marshall writes in his blog.

Photographs Documenting the Struggle for Women's Suffrage Are Reimagined in Full Color

Colorizer Tom Marshall's deft touch brings new life to 100-year-old photographs

magnified, fully mature human egg grown in the lab

Researchers Mature Human Eggs in the Lab for the First Time

Developing eggs so they are ready to be fertilized could help women who have trouble producing their own

Material scientist Liangbing Hu (left) holds wood stronger than titanium and tougher than steel after a two-step process. Mechanical engineer Teng Li (right) holds an untreated block of the same wood.

New Super Wood Beats Metals in Feats of Strength

A new method combining chemical, pressure and heat treatments can create ultra-dense material that is stronger than steel

This Textbook Helps Teach English in Downtown Los Angeles' Skid Row

The readings are geared to engage and inspire adults hoping to improve their literacy skills

Black lung x-rays from a patient in Birmingham, Alabama, 1972

Study Uncovers Startling Number of Black Lung Cases in Coal Miners

Miners are contracting the disease with striking frequency and at younger ages than ever before

Inaugural Parade for President John F. Kennedy

The History of Military Parades in the U.S.

Displays of military might aren't common in modern America outside of wartime

New York slave market about 1730

Database Sheds New Light on New York's Historic Ties to Slavery

A new index contains searchable records of slavery from birth registrations to runaway slave advertisements

A laser delivers a burst of ultraviolet light to compress water ice and create superionic ice

Scientists Make Weird Type of Ice Halfway Between Solid and Liquid

The strange form of ice could help explain the odd magnetic fields seen around Uranus and Neptune

A Viking-age woven band of silk displays patterns in silver thread discovered to be Arabic script

Did Vikings Bury Their Dead in Clothing Bearing the Arabic Word for "Allah"?

While contact between Vikings and Muslim cultures is well documented, the interpretation of the 10th-century burial cloth has been called into question

New research allowed astronomers to see a star forming region on the other side of the galaxy.

Scientists Peek Across the Galaxy to the "Dark Side" of the Milky Way

Until now, researchers haven't been able to map half of the galaxy we call home

A researcher uses a pipette to remove DNA from a micro test tube.

The Navajo Nation Might Lift a Longstanding Ban on Genetic Research

A policy written by tribal officials could help alleviate ethical concerns and guide genetic research and data sharing

Gardener Rob Gimpel harvests cabbage from the commemorative War Garden.

A Century After WWI, a Victory Garden Sows Seeds of Remembrance

The Library of Congress is playing host to heirloom vegetables and traditional growing methods that date back to 1917

Hank Willis Thomas' sculpture photographed by Steve Weinik for Mural Arts Philadelphia

Pop-up Monuments Ask What 21st-Century Public Memorials Should Be

A collective of artists adds new, thought-provoking works to Philadelphia's parks and plazas

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