Maris Fessenden

 

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

Fungus has been infecting snakes like this adorable baby garter snake

A Deadly Fungus is Eating the Scales off Snakes in the Eastern U.S.

Researchers are still not sure why the fungus, usually content to live on dead animals, is now infecting living snakes

A young black-footed ferret learns to hunt prairie dogs at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center

How Feeding Prairie Dogs Peanut Butter Could Help Save Ferrets from the Plague

The recovery of black-footed ferrets is threatened by plague

Public Drinking Fountains Are Disappearing, and That's a Bad Thing

Bottling water divorces people from caring about keeping public water supply clean

Explore This Map of 13 Centuries' Worth of English Metaphors

How long ago did English speakers start linking chickens with fearfulness?

Michael Fraley, a Vice President with Yulex Corporation, cuts a guayule plant that can be used to make natural rubber, in 2008

Could This Shrub Overthrow the Mighty Rubber Tree?

Researchers are working to make a shrub found in southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico a viable natural rubber alternative

A color image of Pluto and its moon Charon captured on July 11, 2015 by New Horizons

New Horizons Probe Reveals That Pluto is Bigger Than Expected

But so far it still won’t be considered a "planet"

Why So Few Scientists Are Studying the Causes of Gun Violence

Congress has prohibited funds for research advocating gun control since 1996

Conservationists Want You to Stop Building Rock Piles

Cairns have a long history and purpose, one that newer stacks sometimes subvert

A bontebok

Ever Heard of the Bontebok? It’s an African Animal Humans Nearly Destroyed, Then Saved

Part of this conservation success story relies on the bontebok’s inability to jump

Crystalized acetaminophen, the drug in Tylenol

When This Photographer Got Sick, He Started Taking Beautiful Photos of Painkillers and Tears

The extreme closeups were one way for the photographer to understand what he was taking

Real-life Vampires Exist, but They Are Scared to Admit Their Practices to Doctors

Even vampires need non-judgmental help sometimes

An original Tetris arcade game

Playing Tetris Could Stop Traumatic Memories from Becoming Flashbacks

The visually stimulating game seems to lessen the blow of disturbing events when they are recalled

Jacques Cousteau himself, in diving gear

Frustrated with Shark Week, This Year Biologists Celebrated Jacques Cousteau with #JacquesWeek

The French explorer and conservationist had a very different take on ocean life

Researchers discovered a red ochre- and milk-based paint on a stone flake from 49,000 years ago.

In South Africa, People Painted with Cow Milk Long Before They Domesticated Cattle

The need to hunt wild cow relatives would have made this paint valuable

Ultrasonic Fingerprint Readers Can Unlock Phones Even When Your Fingers are Gross and Sweaty

Experts say ultrasound fingerprint sensors are harder to hack

Researchers Are Using Facial Recognition Software To Save Lions

Software algorithms offer a non-invasive way to track the big cats

The robot from Toshiba sporting two cameras

This Scorpion-Shaped Robot Will Enter One of Fukushima’s Reactors

The nuclear power plant's owners still don't know exactly what is going on inside the three reactors that melted down

A scanning electron micrograph of Yersinia pestis bacteria

These Two Mutations Turned Not-so-Deadly Bacteria Into the Plague

The ancestor of the bacterium responsible for the Black Plague isn’t nearly as deadly

A drone shot of the Harvest Dome 2.0, sinking over a sunken ship in Gowanus Canal

A Sculpture Meant to Celebrate the Renewal of the Gowanus Canal Just Got Caught on Trash and Sank

R.I.P. Harvest Dome 2.0

A portion of the Great Wall of China in a more rural area

More than 1,200 Miles of China’s Great Wall Have Been Destroyed

Only a small fraction of the remaining wall is in good condition

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