Erin Blakemore

Erin Blakemore

 

Erin Blakemore is a Boulder, Colorado-based journalist. Her work has appeared in publications like The Washington Post, TIME, mental_floss, Popular Science and JSTOR Daily. Learn more at erinblakemore.com.

Gibbons were among the endangered species discovered on illicit Facebook groups during a recent study of illegal animal trafficking.

Animal Traffickers Use Facebook to Boost Sales

There’s plenty to dislike about using social media to sell endangered species

Interacting with a velociraptor robot is just part of the Henn-na Hotel's efficient charm.

Japan Has a Hotel Staffed by Robots

Androids, velociraptors and talking toys are all part of the experience at the Henn-na Hotel

This could be New Zealand's next flag.

New Zealanders Are Voting Whether to Adopt a New Flag

The country could drop the Union Jack in favor of a design with a more distinctive national symbol

Sled dogs may not have enough snow during the 2016 Iditarod.

Alaska Is Shipping in Snow for This Year’s Iditarod

Could a warm winter make the famous sled race go to the dogs?

Shoppers walk down a corridor in Istanbul's fabled Grand Bazaar.

Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar Is Getting a Makeover

The bazaar has withstood at least seven fires and several major earthquakes

Almonds are just one of the crops commonly treated with flubendiamide, a pesticide that has come under fire from the EPA.

The FDA Will Ban a Common Pesticide

Flubendiamide is used in about 200 crops like almonds and soybeans

Were these small prints left by Stone Age babies...or lizards?

“Baby Hands” on Rock Paintings Were Probably Lizard Prints

The prints could have held symbolic meaning for Stone Age humans

This could have been Britain during World War II, but Operation Bernhard was foiled after the Allies learned about the plan.

The Nazis Planned to Bomb Britain With Forged Bank Notes

But Operation Bernhard never made it rain

She knows where this photo was taken—and so might a new neural network.

Google's New A.I. Can Tell Exactly Where a Photo Was Taken

A new neural network is better than humans at sussing out the location of a picture

This 1956 poster is just one of thousands of items of Rosa Parks' personal collection now digitized by the Library of Congress.

Rosa Parks' Papers Are Now Online

Read about everything from her meditations on the Civil Rights Movement to her recipe for "featherlite" peanut butter pancakes

Beijing's CCTV Tower has been compared to a pair of glorious pants.

These Are 10 of China’s Strangest Buildings

Chinese officials want to ditch the country's bizarre architecture

Shackleton brought everything from trashy novels to accounts of Arctic rescues with him to Antarctica.

Historians Finally Figured Out What Was on Shackleton’s Bookshelf

The brave explorer likely found solace in his library

In Maryland, 13 bald eagles will soar no more.

What Killed 13 Bald Eagles in Maryland?

Officials want information on the strange die-off of a clutch of majestic birds

My God, it's full of gas.

Marvel at the Newest Map of the Milky Way

It is the most complete map of the cold galaxy ever made

Can humans stop a catastrophic rise in sea levels?

Sea Levels Are Rising More Quickly Than in the Last Two Millennia

Here are five things to know about the rising tide

Harper Lee didn't like publicity.

Listen to a Rare Interview With Harper Lee

“[A]ll I want to be is the Jane Austen of South Alabama,” she told radio host Roy Newquist in 1964

Up to 925,000 Jews and Romani were murdered at Treblinka, a Nazi extermination camp near Warsaw, Poland.

Last Survivor of Treblinka, Final Destination for Up to 925,000 People, Has Died

Samuel Willenberg devoted the rest of his life to honoring those murdered at the camp

NASA's OSIRIS-REx project will send a craft to a near-Earth asteroid and take a sample to study back on Earth.

NASA Wants You to Send Your Art to an Asteroid

The agency is looking for creative contributions as it readies its mission to study and sample a near-Earth asteroid

Bigelow Aerospace's proposed space station, Alpha, would be made up of sausage-link-esque blocks, each the size of a school bus.

We Thought We'd Be Living in Space (or Under Giant Domes) By Now

An inflatable space habitat test highlights the futuristic visions we've had for housing, from cities under glass to EPCOT

An African elephant wanders Hlane National Park in Swaziland. Now, 18 of the park's elephants may be airlifted to the United States due to drought.

Drought May Force 18 Elephants Out of Africa

As the driest rainy season in 35 years threatens southern Africa, elephants have become a flashpoint

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