Maris Fessenden

 

Maris Fessenden is a freelance science writer and artist who appreciates small things and wide open spaces.

Five pups from the Shasta Pack

Biologists Have Spotted the First Wolf Pack in California in 100 Years

Two adults and five pups make up the newly-named Shasta Pack

A Large Blue butterfly (Maculinea arion)

The Story of the Butterfly That Got Adopted by A Red Ant

With unexpected infanticide and toxic chemicals, it’s a story loved by all

What does luggage see when you can't see it?

Follow a Piece of Luggage on a Rollercoaster Ride Through the Airport

One bag's journey through Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport

A satirical 16th-century print showing a chastity belt

Medieval Chastity Belts Are a Myth

People probably chuckled just as much then about the idea as they do today

In the 19th century this pie might have contained birds

Americans Used to Eat Robin Pie and Calf’s Foot Jelly

A food historian points out some forgotten favorites

A hawthorn tree in the moonlight

Plants Might Move with the Moon Just as the Oceans Do with Tides

One researcher calls it the "leaftide"

One glorious memorial (The Moon on August 2, 2015 with the International Space Station just visible as a silhouette)

Go to the Moon for Less than $10,000! One Catch: Dead People Only

It’s the cheapest option yet for choosing the Moon as a final resting place

Leaf-cutter ants tending a fungus garden in Guadaloupe

Future Antibiotics for Humans Could Come From Ant Fungus Gardens

A unique symbiotic relationship exists between leaf-cutter ants, fungi and bacteria

Fruit vendor in São Paulo, Brazil

Why Humans Love Things That Fit into Other Things

There's comfort in unexpected order

Lightning strikes near the U.S. Capitol building

Lightning Strikes Can Change Rocks' Atomic Structure

New research suggests that rock crystals melt under the intense force and heat of lightning

Loren P. Woods, curator of fish at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago in 1968. But could he handle a horse?

Would You Pass This 1910 Museum Curator Test?

Don't know how to steer a canoe? Instant fail

A "kissing bug," the insect whose bite can transmit the parasite that causes Chagas disease

Why Infectious Tropical Diseases Are Returning to America

Climate, geography and economy are just a few risk factors

Female saiga at the Black Earth Nature Reserve in Russia in 2009

What Killed Over 134,000 Endangered Antelopes?

Experts are closer to an answer

Screenshot from the short "Chad Gadya"

This Animation Is Made of Embroidery

It took a year and a half to create a short film using "embroidermation"

The bust of Nefertiti at the Altes Museum in Berlin

Could a Door in King Tut's Tomb Lead to Nefertiti?

There could be more in Tutanhkamun's burial chamber than meets the eye

This man living in Dubai would need proper documentation if his bird is to fly — on an airplane, that is

Falcons Can’t Fly Without Passports in the United Arab Emirates

ID documents are helping stamp out smuggling for the prized birds

Overwintering monarch butterflies

Scientists Are Still Baffled by Monarch Migration

When it comes to declining winter butterfly populations, something just doesn't add up

Monique Hammerslag of the Dutch police force in Rotterdam with two of her recruits

Inside a Dutch Police Academy...for Rats

Cigarette-sniffing rats are creating new job opportunities for their fellow rodents

Search Engines Can Sway Undecided Voters

New research uncovers "the search engine effect" and its potential to influence election outcomes

A hyalotype photo printed and mounted as a glass lantern slide, by William and Frederick Langenheim.

This is the First Known Photo of the Smithsonian Castle

On the Smithsonian's 175th birthday, a glimpse into the iconic Castle's construction

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