Maris Fessenden

 

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

The garden center spider combs and pulls on its silk to create electricostatically-charged threads

Spiders Spin Electrically Charged Silk To Make It Sticky

The garden center spider doesn’t put sticky glue on its web; it uses a complex spinning process to build prey-snaring silk threads

Being Politically Correct Can Actually Boost Creativity

In mixed-gender groups, being PC makes everyone more comfortable and lets ideas flow

An artist's illustration of Kepler-444 and its five planets

These Five Earth-sized Planets Are Super Old

Kepler-444 is 11.2 billion years old and its five planets could tell us about planet formation in the early universe

Jean Valentine, a former Bombe machine operator, shows a drum of the machine in Bletchley Park Museum in Bletchley, England.

Women Were Key to WWII Code-Breaking at Bletchley Park

Female operators and mathematicians play a greater role in the history of computers and code-breaking than most realize

Mostly the Old And Ill Ate Breakfast Until the Rise of the Working Man

Romans disdained the meal, few ate it in the Middle Ages, but most eat breakfast now

Teens from the Njarainjari Aboriginal Community walk in the shallows of Lake Albert in Southern Australia

Australian Stories Capture 10,000-Year-Old Climate History

Aboriginal groups from coast to coast describe walking to places that are now islands

Charles Darwin statue at London’s Natural History Museum

Darwin May Have Experienced Extreme Anxiety

Many attempts have been made to diagnose Darwin’s illness, here’s a well-argued possibility

Some People Have Patterns on Their Tongues That Look Like Maps

The condition is harmless and fairly common

Part of the comet's smaller lobe from about 8 km above the surface

Rosetta’s Comet Close-Ups Reveal Goosebumps And Very Little Ice

Rosetta is watching for changes as the double-lobed comet approaches the sun

Non-GMO E. coli bacteria

These New GMOs Need Artificial Compounds to Live

It’s genetic engineering with the safety on

The face of Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf

Fish Live Under Antarctica’s Ice Shelf, Where It Seems They Shouldn’t Survive

Biologists expected the seafloor under a glacier to be nearly barren, until life swam into view

Young Blood Rejuvenates Older Tissues

Experiments in surgically joined lab animals that share blood have inspired anti-aging hopes

Your Spouse’s Personality Can Help You Get Ahead at Work

Tests on married couples reveal that conscientiousness in a spouse is the most helpful trait if you want promotions and success

This Woman Can’t Feel Fear

Damage from a rare genetic condition appears to have knocked out the "fear center" in her brain

Millions of Dollars Worth of Gold And Silver Lurk in Sewage

A city with one million people could have $13 million worth of metals in sewage sludge

High-Speed Video Shows When The Smell of Rain Begins

Now we can see exactly how raindrops create petrichor, the name given to smells kicked up by light rain

The Speed of Light Can Vary

By manipulating the structure of light pulses, scientists managed to slow down some photons and challenge textbook wisdom

Solar Power Provides About As Many Jobs As the Coal Industry in the U.S.

Estimates might even give solar and edge in the jobs department, but is that a good thing?

Loggerhead sea turtle surfing the magnetic field

Earth’s Magnetic Field Draws Sea Turtles to Their Nests

Loggerhead turtles remember the magnetic fingerprint of the beach where they were born

Polar bears just don’t do it for us anymore.

For the 4th Time Since 1997, We All Just Lived Through the Hottest Year Ever Recorded

2014 beats out previous record holders even without El Niño’s warming powers

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