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Stories from REPRINT AUTHOR PLACEHOLDER

Having native plants in a garden can create a good environment for caterpillars, which are hearty food for birds

Why You Should Grow Native Plants in Your Garden

Entomologist Doug Tallamy explains how doing so can help insects and birds

Across the United States, around 70 percent of coal travels by rail.

Using A.I. to Track Air Pollution From Open-Top Coal Trains

Scientists in California are working with communities—and a suite of tools—to better monitor air quality

There are an estimated 200 shipwrecks lost in the dark, cold waters of Stellwagen Bank, Massachusetts, not far from Boston’s harbor. The sunken wrecks attract fish, which in turn attract fishers, but fishing nets and metal scallop dredges can easily snag on and damage the irreplaceable vessels.

The Locations of These Shipwrecks Are No Longer a Secret

A marine sanctuary is letting fishers know where previously hidden wrecks can be found

Researchers are using A/B testing to try to motivate patients to reach out for care.

Can New Messaging Methods Improve Health Care?

Public health experts are borrowing a technique from the tech world in hopes of spurring patients to get preventative care

Antlers remain intact for hundreds to thousands of years.

How Conservation Paleobiology Serves as a Guide for Restoring Ecosystems

Researchers use historic remnants like antlers, shells, teeth and pollen to learn how natural communities once worked

In 1984, Ivo Zdarsky fled from communist Czechoslovakia to Vienna in a homemade flying machine.

The Man Who Pierced the Iron Curtain in a Flying Go-Kart—and Left Civilization Forever

Escaping communism in a DIY aircraft wasn’t enough for Ivo Zdarsky. So he invented his own way of life in a Utah desert ghost town

Researchers are rediscovering the forgotten legacy of Charles Henry Turner.

This Pioneering Black Zoologist’s Insights Were a Century Ahead of Their Time

Charles Henry Turner conducted trailblazing research on the cognitive traits of bees, spiders and more

The letter “x” often symbolizes something unknown, with an air of mystery that can be appealing.

A Brief History of the Letter ‘X,’ From Algebra to X-Mas to Elon Musk

A math historian explores how “x” came to stand in for an unknown quantity

Some psychologists argue that certain people with psychopathic traits such as meanness can excel in business and other areas where boldness is an asset.

Can Psychopathic Tendencies Help You Achieve Success?

New research is reframing this often sensationalized and maligned set of traits and finding some positive twists

Spider wrestling can range from casual matches played by children to more high-stakes games involving gambling.

Does Playing Games With Spiders Reduce Arachnophobia?

An anthropologist ponders whether a children’s pastime in the Philippines, pitting the creatures against each other in wrestling matches, decreases fear

L to R: Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen pose on a tour bus in 1978.

Why Did Van Halen Demand Concert Venues Remove Brown M&M’s From the Menu?

An investigation of the rock band’s unusual concert rider suggests the stipulation was a savvy marketing move

“Only among the hills with hare and kestrel will you observe what once this land was like before we made it fat for human use.” — “The Colony” by John Hewitt

These Surfers Want to Restore Temperate Rainforests to Ireland

In the rainy mountains along the country’s west coast, a movement has begun to bring back an ecosystem that has been gone for centuries

Students from Newcastle University excavate the Birdoswald bathhouse.

Why Do Archaeologists Rebury Their Excavations?

The practice helps preserve the site for future researchers, who might be able to assess the site with more modern tools and techniques

Abigail Previlon, 13, takes part in online learning at home on October 28, 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut. At the time, Stamford Public Schools was using a hybrid educational model due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

What the Covid-19 Pandemic Revealed About Remote School

The unplanned experiment provided clear lessons on the value—and limitations—of online learning. Are educators listening?

Trub, a leftover of the brewing process, could be key to scientists’ quest to develop a cheap, effective artificial scent guide for hatchery-raised salmon.

How Far Will Salmon Swim for a Craft Beer?

Researchers in Oregon hope a surprising aroma will lure stray fish back to their home hatcheries

Vertical farming can produce as much as traditional farming while using less water and less energy—if executed correctly.

Empty Office Buildings Are Being Turned Into Vertical Farms

With office usage hovering near 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels, cities are putting the underutilized space to new use growing food

Humans hunt, kill or capture a massive number of species. Surprisingly, most of this is for non-food reasons.

Humans Take Out More Wild Species Than Any Other Predator on Earth

We kill, collect or otherwise use about 15,000 vertebrate species

Phoebe Waller-Bridge (left) and Harrison Ford (right) in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

An Archaeologist’s Take on What Indiana Jones Gets Right—and Wrong—About the Field

The movie franchise speaks to ethical issues at the very heart of anthropological thinking

Plastics typically contain chemical additives like metals and dyes, which can leach out and affect organisms nearby.

Microplastic Exposure Makes Microbes More Virulent

Laboratory research shows that someway, somehow, PVC plastic breeds antimicrobial resistance

Apparatus for administering nitrous oxide and other anesthetic gases

These Objects Tell the Story of Human-Driven Climate Change

Smithsonian curators dig into the collections to find artifacts that illustrate how we arrived at this moment

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