“After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 sparked protests for racial justice around the country, more and more people within and outside Penn began to see the Morton collection as a present-day perpetuation of racism and its harms, rather than just a historic example.”
science
Posted inEditor's Pick
She Fell Nearly 2 Miles, and Walked Away
“At 17, biologist Juliane Diller was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Amazon. Fifty years later she still runs Panguana, a research station founded by her parents in Peru.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘The Mark of the Beast’: Georgian Britain’s Anti-Vaxxer Movement
“The arguments made by today’s anti-vaxxers often echo those put forth by their nineteenth-century antecedents: claims of inefficacy, allegations of ghastly side effects, appeals to religion.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
If Aliens Exist, Here’s How We’ll Find Them
“We are near the end of Darwinian evolution, but technological evolution of intelligent beings is just beginning.”
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes, Science & Nature
The Team of Scientists Behind Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine
How scientists developed a COVID-19 vaccine in record time.
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Can Covid-19 Teach Us About the Mysteries of Smell?
“What exactly was happening inside patients to make their sense of smell disappear in such an unusual way? Could Covid-related smell loss teach us anything new about how the virus worked? Or about how we did?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Luck, Foresight and Science: How an Unheralded Team Developed a COVID-19 Vaccine in Record Time
Credit for the COVID-19 vaccine “belongs to a series of uncelebrated discoveries dating back at least 15 years – and a constellation of unsung scientists.”
Posted inQuotes
Is the Cure for Cancer Locked in Shrunken Heads from the Amazon?
Could shrunken heads from the Amazon hold the key to curing cancer?
Posted inEditor's Pick
Where Year Two of the Pandemic Will Take Us
“As vaccines roll out, the U.S. will face a choice about what to learn and what to forget.”
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2020: Science and Nature
Our top picks in science and nature stories for 2020.