Author: Ms. R.

With any luck, humans change a lot over the course of our time on Earth. As we grow out of our teeny onesies and our teenage styles, the aging process can feel a lot like shedding a past self. But other creatures literally do that: step out of their bodies and grow into a new one. For trilobites—marine arthropods that appeared in the Cambrian period, more than 500 million years ago—molting was a key part of growing up. Trilobites……

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Archaeological ruins are rocks artfully placed and artfully collapsed. Since the Romantics, they have been sites of imagination where we conjure the past. At the Valley of the Temples, which has occupied a ridge outside the city of Agrigento, Italy, for 2,500 years, visitors come to admire the Doric columns and see the stunning Greek structures that have stood through weather and war. What they see is the skeleton of a long-gone society. Tour guides and didactic panels describe……

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Despite all the deep-sea expeditions and samples taken from the seabed over the past 100 years, humans still know very little about the ocean’s deepest reaches. And there are good reasons to learn more. Most tsunamis start with earthquakes under or near the ocean floor. The seafloor provides habitat for fish, corals and complex communities of microbes, crustaceans, and other organisms. Its topography controls currents that distribute heat, helping to regulate Earth’s climate. July 30 marks the 100th anniversary……

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Like people, trees and plants can be born with mutations that alter their appearance and functions. The Ornäsbjork is a prime example of such a mutation: a normal silver birch that has rather unique pointy leaves.  This birch was discovered by Hans Gustaf Hiordt, Dalarnas County secretary in 1767. Understanding the magnitude of what he had found, he transferred the tree to his land and notified biologists. Carl Linnaeus, the famed Swedish botanist and zoologist who devised the system of binomial……

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Inscribed on the base of this unique statue are the words “Never Again!” It stands as a reminder to the horrors of slavery faced by the people who once lived in this region of the country.  This eye-catching statue is located on the mainland of The Gambia, facing the Kunta Kinteh Island. The island was once a key location during the Atlantic Slave Trade. Slaves were often imprisoned on the island before being transported to the United States. The……

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The Ainu people live in the northernmost parts of Japan, mainly on the island of Hokkaidō, with around 25,000 and 200,000 people left belonging to this indigenous group. They were originally hunter-gatherers with their own language and rich culture living in larger areas. However, during the 19th-century, the Japanese government drove them further into the north to colonize the frontier. The Ainu were stripped of their lands, culture, and traditional way of life. It was not until April 2019……

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Garret Augustus Hobart was born in Long Branch, New Jersey on June 3, 1844. Hobart, who grew up in nearby Marlboro, held a number of elected positions in his home state leading up to his election as Vice President of the United States under President William McKinley in 1896. As vice president, the good-natured Hobart was well-respected in Washington D.C., and considered a close friend and advisor to the president. Tragically, Hobart’s time in office was cut short, when……

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Many cities have their own local ghost stories tied to specific locations. Take Stockholm and its Kymlinge Metro Station, which is said to host a silver phantom train that passed through. Like many ghost stories, this one even has a kernel of truth. The Silverpilen is a special model C5 metro train that was manufactured in the mid-1960s. It was made of aluminum as a proof-of-concept for lighter, and therefore more efficient, operation. For unknown reasons, the train was never……

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