Maddie Bender

Maddie Bender is a freelance science journalist whose work has appeared in STAT, Scientific American and Vice, among others.

Leaves and roots analyzed by botanist Mason Heberling

These Researchers Are Digging Into the Understudied Science of Roots

After centuries of neglect, botanists are using new techniques to understand roots

Sunlight illuminates a plaque in Charleston, South Carolina, honoring 36 likely enslaved people—ranging in age from 3 to over 50—whose remains were discovered in 2013.

A New Project Uses Isotopes to Pinpoint the Birthplaces of the Enslaved

In South Carolina, members of the local Black community are teaming up with scientists to produce a novel study of the trans-Atlantic slave trade

In 1958, dozens of red-breasted flycatchers, like the one pictured here, flew off course and visited the United Kingdom.

One Reason Migrating Birds Get Lost Is Out of This World

Solar energy can alter the Earth’s magnetic field and likely lead the animals astray

The Cascade red fox (which isn't always red) does not hibernate. Along with pocket gophers, voles, birds and snowshoe hares, it eats fruits and insects. 

Where Fox News Is Hard to Come By

A mountain range in the Pacific Northwest is a last bastion for a unique canine

A female saltmarsh sparrow in a New Hampshire wetland is held by University of New Hampshire graduatet student Talia Kuras. The circular device reads the transponder-containing indentification tag on the bird's leg. 

Saving the Imperiled Saltmarsh Sparrow

Conservationists are racing to rescue a delightful coastal animal from rising seas

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