Author: Ms. R.

This work first appeared on SAPIENS under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license. Read the original here. “I’ve been told this is the longest suspended water system in Nepal,” Mitch Silver, a self-described high-altitude plumber, explains as we climb the treacherous cliffside, following the narrow pipeline that hangs above our heads. “People just don’t do this—run 300, 400 meters of cable across a gorge for a pipeline.” Gravel breaks loose with each step, tumbling more than 300 feet down to……

Read More

Biologist Brent Sinclair has a few critters he’s eager to talk about: a monstrous, grasshopper-like insect in New Zealand, a spotted alpine cockroach, and the common spring field cricket in North America. They all share one incredible trait—the ability to freeze over when it’s really cold, and survive. It’s a phenomenon that’s unthinkable for most animals, since ice formation can destroy tissue, leading to death. Yet a number of species can withstand up to two-thirds of their body water……

Read More

Proclus Lycaeus, the last major ancient Greek philosopher and successor to Plato, was born in Constantinople in 412. After first studying philosophy, he then decided to become a lawyer. While successfully practicing law, he decided philosophy was his true calling, and eventually moved to Alexandria to further his studies.  He eventually outgrew the instruction available in Alexandria and moved to Athens. Upon his arrival in Athens, he began studying at the Platonian Academy, the pre-eminent academy for philosophy in the……

Read More

Standing at the base of the 20-foot-high glacial erratic in Rockefeller State Park Preserve, one can’t help to notice the sweeping grey, blue, and brown striations that wind their way around this boulder’s 65-foot circumference; often interrupted by jagged edges and deep gouges. A glacial erratic is a rock that has been transported by a glacier, and are sometimes used to track glacial movement. This giant piece of gneiss, which is estimated to be more than 600 million-years-old, didn’t……

Read More

This article and these recipes are excerpted from Wisconsin Cocktails by Jeanette Hurt. Reprinted by permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. © 2020 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved. If you order a Brandy Alexander or a Grasshopper in most parts of the United States, you’ll get a lovely, creamy drink, made with heavy cream or half-and-half. In Wisconsin, though, ordering one will get you not so much a drink……

Read More

In 1894, a group of family, friends, and fans of minister and author Edward Payson Roe gathered to dedicate a memorial tablet in his honor. One of the most successful and popular authors of the Gilded Age, Roe was plunged into obscurity upon his death in 1888. During the 1870s and 80s, however, it was customary for households to display volumes of his works in conspicuous places.  The tablet reads “NEAR TO NATVRE’S HEART,” a reference to his 1876……

Read More