When neuroscientist Madeline Lancaster was a brand new postdoc, she accidentally used an expired protein gel in a lab experiment and noticed something weird. The stem cells she was trying to grow in a dish were self-assembling. The result? Madeline was the first person ever to gr ...Show more
Moon Trees
In 1971, a red-headed, tree-loving astronaut named Stu ‘Smokey’ Roosa was asked to take something to the moon with him. Of all things, he chose to take a canister of 500 tree seeds. After orbiting the moon 34 times, the seeds made it back to Earth. NASA decided to plant the seeds ...Show more
Annie Christmas (c. 1900s) was a fantastical figure based on a real person, but stories about her were passed down through oral tradition, old timey radio shows, collections of folklore and children’s tales. This brawny and brave keelboat captain has been hailed as the queen of t ...Show more
Eliza Donnithorne (1821-1886) was an infamous recluse. Legend has it she was abandoned on her wedding day, and she never recovered. Her story may have inspired one of literature’s most famous scorned brides: Miss Havisham of Dickens' Great Expectations. This month, we're talking ...Show more
Catherine Monvoisin (1640-1680) was a French fortune teller, midwife, and professional poisoner who found herself at the center of a witch hunt when her attempt to poison King Louis XIV went awry. This month, we're talking about Folk Heroes. People whose lives and stories took on ...Show more
Margaret Brown (1867-1932), now known as "the Unsinkable Molly Brown," was a socialite who survived the sinking of the Titanic and desperately tried to convince her fellow lifeboat passengers to return to the debris and search for survivors. This month, we're talking about Folk H ...Show more