Freelance editor, fact-checker, web producer and writer for all things science! 🌱 formerly @SmithsonianMag, @NatureNews & @NewsFromScience | 🦡 @HeraldAlumni
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Articles by Rachael Lallensack
Art helped this astrophysicist make sense of math
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Big waves shape this surfer-scientist’s research and life
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Hurricane Katrina shaped this coastal ecologist’s life and work
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Let’s learn about venom
aggressive: (n. aggressiveness) Quick to fight or argue, or forceful in making efforts to succeed or win. antibodies: Any of a large number of proteins that the body produces from B cells and releases into the blood supply as part of its immune response. The production of antibodies is triggered when the body encounters an antigen, some foreign material. Antibodies then lock onto antigens as a first step in disabling the germs or other foreign substances that were the source of those antigens.
Rachael Lallensack | Science News Explores
A bite or puncture from a venomous critter can cause paralysis, flesh rot, organ failure and many more violent — and sometimes fatal — symptoms.
Wisconsinites seeking care for mental health increased by 36 percent from 2019 to 2021
In 2021, individuals in Wisconsin seeking treatment for mild to moderate mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety, increased by more than 63,000 compared to 2019 — an increase of 36 percent, according to a recent report. To access this content, you must purchase a Premium membership, or log in if you are a member.
Changes to healthcare program for undocumented people, Medicaid redeterminations create ‘perfect storm’
At a Health News Illinois panel this week, advocates outlined impacts of proposed changes by Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration to a program offering Medicaid-like coverage for undocumented individuals and described efforts on the ground as an enrollment pause for those who aren’t seniors begins Saturday.
Stakeholders criticize Pritzker administration’s proposed changes to Medicaid-like program for undocumented individuals
Proposed changes by Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration to a program offering Medicaid-like coverage for undocumented individuals, including an enrollment pause starting next month for those who aren't seniors, caught advocates off guard, according to speakers at a Health News Illinois panel Wednesday.
Hospitals’ behavioral health units face major hurdles, per WHA leaders
Last week, hospital leaders outlined issues facing the state’s psychiatric care system, citing workforce shortages, unit closures and Medicaid reimbursement as major hurdles. To access this content, you must purchase a Premium membership, or log in if you are a member.
WPS Health Insurance adds new maternity program
MADISON, Wis.—April 10, 2023— WPS Health Insurance introduces a new case management program for pregnant customers. Because of the strong relationship between parents’ health and their infants’ health, the maternity program is designed to support customers during and after pregnancy with the goal of improved health outcomes for parents and their infants. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 10 babies are born too early in the United States.
Hunters Have Killed 24 Yellowstone Gray Wolves So Far This Season-the Most in Over 25 Years
Hunters have killed 24 Yellowstone gray wolves that roamed outside the park so far this hunting season—the most in a single season since wolves were reintroduced to the national park in 1995, according to the National Park Service’s list of confirmed wolf mortalities. Park officials say the deaths are “a significant setback for the species’ long-term viability and for wolf research,” reports Matthew Brown reports for the Associated Press.
Five Fascinating Ice Age Finds Discovered in Yukon Permafrost
In Canada’s Yukon territory, towering pine and spruce forests drape over rolling hills and the Yukon River and its winding tributaries cut valleys into the landscape. Winters in this northwest corner of Canada are harsh, but the warm summer months are illuminated by sunshine until midnight. Even further north, however, rests the treeless alpine tundra where frigid temperatures permanently keep the ground frozen. The icy soil is called permafrost.
See Pandas, Elephants, Cheetahs and More Enjoy a Snow Day at the National Zoo
For zoo animals, a blanket of fluffy snow on the ground creates the perfect stage for somersaults, scampering and snowflake-covered fur. Cities on the United States’ East Coast were slammed by winter storms this week with snowfall totals between 6 to 12 inches in some areas, per Aamer Madhani and Parker Purifoy for the Associated Press.
Discoveries From 2021 That May Lead to New Inventions
(Scott Takushi/Pioneer Press via AP) In science, inspiration can come from anywhere. A researcher might wonder about the thrust produced by butterfly wings as they flit through a meadow. Maybe watching squirrels navigate campus trees like parkour artists sparks curiosity about what goes through their furry little minds as they decide to jump from branch to branch. Read Full Article » Show comments Hide Comments Related Articles
Ten Scientific Discoveries From 2021 That May Lead to New Inventions
Rachael Lallensack Assistant Editor, Science and Innovation In science, inspiration can come from anywhere. A researcher might wonder about the thrust produced by butterfly wings as they flit through a meadow. Maybe watching squirrels navigate campus trees like parkour artists sparks curiosity about what goes through their furry little minds as they decide to jump from branch to branch.
The Science Behind Six Spooky Lakes
From a boiling river in the Peruvian Amazon to the blood-red Lake Natron in Tanzania, bodies of water on Earth—and beyond—can be odd, disgusting, mysterious, frightening, deadly and even a little spooky. TikTok creator Geo Rutherford (@geodesaurus) has been highlighting haunted hydrology—everything from dangerously acidic waters to alien-like extremophile life forms—each day of October in her 31-day “Spooky Lakes” series. Read Full Article »
The Science Behind Six Spooky Lakes and Other Tales of Haunting Hydrology
A closer view of Lake Natron's blood-red waters in an image captured by NASA satellites. NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens From a boiling river in the Peruvian Amazon to the blood-red Lake Natron in Tanzania, bodies of water on Earth—and beyond—can be odd, disgusting, mysterious, frightening, deadly and even a little spooky.
The Science Behind Six Spooky Lakes and Other Tales of Haunting Hydrology
From a boiling river in the Peruvian Amazon to the blood-red Lake Natron in Tanzania, bodies of water on Earth—and beyond—can be odd, disgusting, mysterious, frightening, deadly and even a little spooky. TikTok creator Geo Rutherford (@geodesaurus) has been highlighting haunted hydrology—everything from dangerously acidic waters to alien-like extremophile life forms—each day of October in her 31-day “Spooky Lakes” series.
The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2020
Rachael Lallensack & Joe Spring Smithsonian January 4, 2021 Covid-19 dominated science coverage in 2020, and rightly so. The world grappled with how to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus, learning about how it spread (whether it was on surfaces, via droplets or being airborne) and how it affected the human body (from immunity to symptoms like loss of smell.) Read Full Article »
The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2020
Covid-19 dominated science coverage in 2020, and rightly so. The world grappled with how to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus, learning about how it spread (whether it was on surfaces, via droplets or being airborne) and how it affected the human body (from immunity to symptoms like loss of smell.) But scientific endeavors in other fields, whether affected directly by the pandemic or indirectly by public health measures, didn’t come to a complete halt because of SARS-CoV-2.
10 Discoveries From 2020 That May Lead to New Inventions
(Jesus Rivera, Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Many new inventions and technologies derive inspiration from nature. The practice of modeling artificial products after biological processes is called biomimicry or biomimetics. Janine Benyus, co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, popularized the term in her 1997 book, Biomimicry. Read Full Article » Show comments Hide Comments
Ten Scientific Discoveries From 2020 That May Lead to New Inventions
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM | Dec. 28, 2020, 8 a.m. Many new inventions and technologies derive inspiration from nature. The practice of modeling artificial products after biological processes is called biomimicry or biomimetics. Janine Benyus, co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, popularized the term in her 1997 book, Biomimicry.
The Ten Best Science Books of 2020
When it came to science news this year, our feeds were filled with discoveries and studies, many of them about Covid-19. Those stories, often about potential vaccines and transmission rates, but also about space travel and forest fires, certainly demanded attention. But it’s important that this year’s longer works about science don’t get lost in the deluge of content.
14 Fun Facts About Frightening Animals
Homer, Mary Shelley and Stephen King dreamed up horrific monsters that plague our nightmares. But the creatures in their stories can’t hold a candle to the gory, grotesque and vicious monsters that haunt the real world. From lizards that blast blood from their eyeballs to ants that decorate their nests with the skulls of their rivals, creatures with terrifying and fascinating adaptations have evolved to survive and flourish on our hostile planet.
Badgers say 'I do' on campus · The Badger Herald
For Shayna Hetzel, a University of Wisconsin alumna, having her wedding on campus was “the pinnacle” of her Badger experience. Hetzel married her high school sweetheart, Derek Mrozinski, on campus on July 9, 2011 in a ceremony filled with Madison pride. The pair snapped pictures at the Memorial Union Terrace, the Historical Society stairs and Library Mall, the ceremony was held at Pres House and the reception was at Union South, she said.
Five Places Where You Can Collect Fossils in the D.C. Area
About 20 million years ago, the land that’s now Virginia, Maryland and the nation’s capital Washington, D.C. was underwater. Where monuments now stand, giant megalodon shark hunted down prehistoric whales and dolphins and fish darted through coral. The marks these creatures left on the world haven’t washed away, as folks stumble on fossil evidence of their ancient lives all the time.
This tiny camera can show the world from a bug's point of view
To save energy, many insects swivel their head—instead of their entire body—to scan the world around them. Researchers have now replicated this with a tiny camera with a one-of-a-kind arm they can maneuver from a smartphone. The total system weighs just 248 milligrams—less than a dollar bill. When strapped onto a beetle's back, the camera can stream video in close to real time. It can also pivot to provide a panoramic view from the beetle's perspective (as seen in this video).
Seventy-Five Scientific Research Projects You Can Contribute to Online
If you find yourself tired of streaming services, reading the news or video-chatting with friends, maybe you should consider becoming a citizen scientist. Though it’s true that many field research projects are paused, hundreds of scientists need your help sifting through wildlife camera footage and images of galaxies far, far away, or reading through diaries and field notes from the past. Plenty of these tools are free and easy enough for children to use.
LIVE NOW: Watch the Smithsonian's Earth Optimism Digital Summit
Looking to the future with optimism can be daunting with experts warning about rapid habitat loss, species extinction, climate change and global food crises. On top of that, with the world right now in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, worries about public health, finance and food security are front of mind. Where can hope be found in uncertain times? In the face of these unprecedented challenges, a new global conservation movement is underway.
Watch Live as the National Zoo’s Cheetah Gives Birth to a Litter of Cubs
Congratulations to first-time cheetah mother Echo! Watch along with the Zoo's keepers waiting for Echo to give birth. (National Zoo) smithsonianmag.com A five-year-old mother cheetah named Echo has given birth a to a litter of cubs at Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia. You can watch live as Echo bonds with her first cub and gives birth to the rest of her litter on Smithsonian’s Cheetah Cub Cam.
Trends that will shape the 2020s: Psychedelics as medicine, diagnostic cell phone apps and AI prediction of disease outbreaks
Clearly, a lot can happen in a decade—but innovation has to start somewhere. Based on what’s breaking through now, here are some trends that have the potential to shape the 2020s. The 2010s saw 18 states approve the use of marijuana for medical purposes, bringing the total to 33 states. In the 2020s, research into the potential medicinal uses of psychedelics could increase dramatically.
Ten Trends That Will Shape Science in the Decade Ahead
When the 2010s began, private spaceflight had barely gotten off the ground, Google was rolling out early personalized search results and CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology was still in its infancy. By decade’s end, artificial intelligence had trounced people at a bevy of board games, SpaceX had become a household name and genetically modified human embryos became a controversial reality. Clearly, a lot can happen in a decade—but innovation has to start somewhere.
Fourteen Fun Facts About Love and Sex in the Animal Kingdom
Dating apps have reduced the ritual of human coupling down to a swipe. Out in the wild, though, love and sex don’t come as easy. Creatures of all sorts have evolved some pretty spectacular strategies to woo their mates and ensure their genes carry on. Here are just a few examples of extreme courtship and copulation that put us tech-savvy humans to shame. You gonna drink that? Like humans, giraffes undergo cycles of fertility.
What Elephants Teach Us About Consumption and Extinction
In a way, our modern understanding of extinction starts with the elephant. It was while studying fossilized teeth of two different elephant ancestors, the mammoth and the mastodon, that scientists first became aware of the fact that species could die out and become forever extinct. In 1796, French naturalist George Cuvier compared mastodon and mammoth tooth fossils to the teeth of modern African and Asian elephants, positing that the teeth belonged to species that were “lost” in the past.
Watch the Arctic’s oldest sea ice shrink
By Rachael LallensackNov. 4, 2016 , 5:00 PM A warming climate is edging out the Arctic’s stores of old sea ice, which act as a sort of “insurance policy” in keeping the region cold. The presiding narrative about ice melt in the Arctic largely focuses on seasonal ice, which is built up and lost in shorter intervals, The Atlantic’s CityLab reports.
The Ten Best Science Books of 2019
New titles explore the workings of the human body, the lives of animals big and small, the past and future of planet earth and how it’s all connected (Illustration by Shaylyn Esposito) By Jay Bennett , Rachael Lallensack smithsonianmag.com December 11, 2019 Science books offer an opportunity to step back from the constant stream of dramatic new discoveries to consider the broader implications of ongoing research.
Paired Images of Melting Glaciers and Flooding Wetlands Tell the Story of Global Climate Change
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM | Nov. 21, 2019, 2:30 p.m. Understanding the regional impacts of a global problem like climate change can be challenging. Melting glaciers in Greenland or Antarctica cause sea level rise near coastal communities thousands of miles away. In places like New Orleans, for example, about 46 percent of sea level rise is due to ice melting around the globe.
See a Fox Spook a Marmot and More Award-Winning Wildlife Photographs
SMITHSONIAN.COM | Oct. 18, 2019, 5:38 p.m. The scene looks like something straight out of Loony Tunes: a snarling fox executes a successful sneak-attack on a marmot frozen in the most terror-filled Heisman pose nature’s ever seen. The image captured by Chinese photographer Yongqing Bao is titled, “The Moment,” and it’s one of London’s National History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners. In its 55th year, the contest received more than 48,000 entries from 100 different countries.
Watch Marine Life Feast On a Complete Whale Skeleton On the Ocean Floor
SmartNews Keeping you current It’s spooky season on the seafloor, too The team discovered a whale fall while exploring Davidson Seamount off central California’s coast. (NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary) smithsonian.com 9 minutes ago It’s almost Halloween, which means bones, skulls and skeletons are casually strewn across people’s lawns.
This Robotic Trash Can Takes Itself to the Curb
The award-winning invention automates a ‘chore that everyone hates’ SmartCan is essentially a pair of robotic wheels that are compatible with any municipal-issued trash receptacle. (Rezzi) smithsonianmag.com October 15, 2019 A major appeal of automation in this era of rapidly developing tech is increasing accessibility and autonomy for disabled individuals. Scientists have created impressive exosuits and robotic gloves for people with limited mobility and motor skills.
Five Roles Robots Will Play in the Future of Farming
Farmers have always been diligent data collectors, knowing approximately what each acreage yields or how much milk an individual cow produces. But with the complex data collecting devices of today’s world, agriculture is in the midst of a high-tech revolution—particularly in the area of precision farming. Farmers can use the same “big data” tools that are integrated into other industries. Things like drones that communicate with satellites to collect data while soaring over a field.
Ten Inventive Attempts to Make Camping More Comfortable
Making a stay in the great outdoors more luxe isn’t new—even if glamping and #vanlife are “Home is where you park it,” one now-famous Instagram influencer Foster Huntington—a former New York designer at Ralph Lauren—titled his Kickstarter campaign when he traded his fast-paced, high-pressure life behind for days on the road in a suped-up Volkswagon camper in 2013.
North America Has Lost Nearly 3 Billion Birds Since 1970
It’s hard to imagine a place in the world where you can’t find a bird—a place where you can’t look to the sky and see one flying overhead, or see one hop across the sidewalk, or close your eyes and hear at least one singing its song. Take the Red Knot, a shoreline bird that migrates to the Delaware Bay in summer to indulge on horseshoe crab eggs until it’s fat enough to fly all the way to the Arctic Circle to breed.
Hurricane Dorian Batters the Bahamas Before Barreling Along the U.S. Coast
Hurricane Dorian is the strongest storm to ever hit the Bahamas. The storm holds the title for fastest winds this far north in the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida with sustained max speeds of 185 miles per hour. Dorian went from a Category 2 storm to a Category 5 storm in just two days, propelled by a process called rapid intensification, before dropping back to a Category 2 storm on Tuesday afternoon.
Longest Running Web Cam Goes Offline This Month
SmartNews Keeping you current The camera has been recording San Francisco’s fog for 25 years FogCam's view at the time of writing. (FogCam) smithsonian.com August 21, 2019 The longest running web cam is logging off this month after 25 years of service gazing out at Holloway Avenue on the San Francisco State University campus and posting a typically foggy still frame every 20 seconds.
Could Goats Help Solve Portugal’s Wildfire Crisis?
SmartNews Keeping you current About 11,000 goats are involved in a pilot program to help reduce overgrowth that fuels forest fires Algarve goats are indigenous to Portugal. (LourdesPhotography / iStock) smithsonian.com August 19, 2019 Portugal’s wildfire season gets worse each year. This July, a massive team of 800 firefighters, 245 vehicles including bulldozers, and 13 planes and helicopters fought a blaze in the country’s heavily forested and mountainous Castelo Branco region.
Two Male Penguins in Berlin Join Long Line of Same-Sex Pairs to Adopt an Egg
SmartNews Keeping you current Skipper and Ping have happily nurtured everything from rocks to fish before zookeepers let them incubate an egg Ping incubates the egg as Skipper keeps guard. (TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images) smithsonian.com August 16, 2019 A penguin couple at a German zoo have been trying to have a baby for months—and now, they get their chance. The pair of male king penguins, Skipper and Ping, moved from Hamburg to Zoo Berlin together earlier this year.
14 Fun Facts About Roller Coasters
For starters, one of the oldest coasters in America carried coal before it carried passengers On August 16, 1898, Edwin Prescott, a roller coaster designer from Massachusetts, was granted a patent for an improvement to roller coasters that ride enthusiasts have come to take for granted—the vertical loop.
Five Scientific Findings That Could Lead to New Inventions
British architect Michael Pawlyn thinks of nature as a “catalog of products,” all of which, he explains in a TED Talk, “have benefited from a 3.8-billion-year research and development period.” “Given that level of investment,” he goes on to say, “it makes sense to use it.” While new technology can sometimes feel strange, almost other-worldly at first, the future of innovation actually involves researchers better understanding the natural world around us.
Here Are 12 Things You Might Miss in the Smithsonian's New Fossil Hall
It’s easy to get caught up gazing at the towering dinosaurs in the new fossil hall at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, but the story of our planet’s life history is much more complicated than Tyrannosaurus rex and its cousins. The exhibition is set up to take visitors on a journey through prehistoric time, hence the hall’s moniker: Deep Time.
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