Maris Fessenden

 

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

Jack Kevorkian stands in front of one of his paintings.

Listen to Dr. Kevorkian's Jazz-Funk Album

The man called "Dr. Death" created a complex and surprising body of artistic work

Mystery Solved: Why Puddles Don't Go On Forever

The picture of proper puddle behavior had a few missing pieces

A mother rhino breastfeeding her baby

Why Mammals Have a Monopoly On Milk

It all started with an egg

A helicopter being used to fight wildfire

Drones Are Getting in the Way of Firefighters Combating Wilderness Blazes

Firefighters need to take to the air to fight fires, but sometimes that air is just too crowded

Dating human remains (such as this 800-year old skeleton found in Bulgaria) often relies on radiocarbon dating

Climate Change Might Break Carbon Dating

Fossil fuel emissions mess with the ratio of carbon isotopes in the atmosphere

Hair ice found in Skåne County, Sweden.

Here’s How a Strange Phenomenon Called ‘Hair Ice’ Forms on Dead Trees

The white ice filaments look a lot like cotton candy

Who Were the First People to Eat Chickens?

A find in Israel shows evidence of chicken consumption from as early as 400 B.C.E.

Malaria infected blood cells (blue)

The First Malaria Vaccine Could Be Released Soon

The vaccine isn’t as effective as hoped however, and needs several more approvals

This fasciated flower — a White Mule’s Ear, found in Island Park, Idaho — has the same disorder found in flowers near Fukushima

Don’t Freak Out Over the Funky Flowers That Appeared Near Fukushima

The odd appearance is due to a plant disorder called fasciation

Orson Welles as Macbeth in the 1948 film with Jeannette Nolan as Lady Macbeth

Listen to 98 hours of Shakespeare’s Poems and Plays Performed by Great Actors

The playlist includes the voices of Edith Evans, Dylan Thomas, Orson Welles and Sir Ian McKellen

The tasty bruschetta in the study.

Great Appetizers Can Spoil the Main Meal

The contrast is key

A graphical abstract from the paper shows the bat approaching its pitcher plant partner.

This Plant Calls to Bats So They Will Poop in it

Specially shaped reflectors bounce back the squeaks of echolocating bats

Anthophyllite asbestos from Georgia

Why Are People Still Using Asbestos?

The story holds parallels with that of the tobacco industry

Screen shot from "The Whale Warehouse - AudioVision Ep. 1" via Vimeo

In L.A. There’s a Warehouse Filled with Whale Bones

A video offers a tour of the Whale Warehouse, which holds a large part of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County's marine mammal collection

1924 Doble steam car at the Henry Ford Museum

Here’s What Steam-Powered Cars Were Like Before the Combustion Engine

The Doble brothers’ built a beautiful steam car in 1924 but mismanagement kept it from being a financial sucess

The Oldest Fossilized Animal Sperm Comes From a Worm That Lived 50 Million Years Ago

The discovery points to a new way that microscopic critters might be preserved in the fossil record

What Makes Some Screams Scarier Than Others?

Shrieks of fear share sound qualities with car alarms

One Man Packed and Shipped Over 700 Pounds of Boston Snow This Year

But they refused to ship snow to anyone in Massachusetts

A treasure trove of tiny gold spirals from Boeslunde, Denmark

Archeologists Have Found 2,000 Ancient Golden Spirals and They Have No Idea What They Are

The meaning or purpose behind the spirals is unclear, but they probably were part of a ritual

Fungus has been infecting snakes like this adorable baby garter snake

A Deadly Fungus is Eating the Scales off Snakes in the Eastern U.S.

Researchers are still not sure why the fungus, usually content to live on dead animals, is now infecting living snakes

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