Articles by Jessica Leigh Hester

It took 200 years to rid the island of rats, and three dogs to make sure they were gone.

An astronomer translated the sounds of galactic gases into a piece of music.

Maybe it's best not to think too much about what's in your bed now.

One researcher thinks mollusks called chitons are more complex than they seem.

In an image captured by Cassini, the gas giant's rings look like razor-thin blades.

As park and garden space expanded, middle-class fleuristes needed shears, watering cans, and umbrellas topped with pruning shears.

Alexander Fleming, the researcher who discovered it, started culturing commemorative keepsakes.

Throughout May, the gas giant will be close to Earth and visible all night long.

The canyon's walls tell the story of long-ego eruptions.

Archaeologists and chefs used chemical analysis—and their taste buds—to solve a culinary puzzle from China.

North Carolina's Frying Pan Tower is for sale.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, once home to 75,000, went up fast and under the radar. But it was built to last, too.

No one knows who made them or why.

Some scientists are studying YouTube comments and trying to go viral.

A new image offers an “all-sky view” of the Milky Way and nearby galaxies.

Crystals might have helped them navigate—or maybe not.

For generations, women have been critical to bringing order to the chaos of the solar system.

An "autopsy" on the congealed behemoth illuminates what people flush down the drain.

Up in the Scottish Highlands, you can stand inside two seasons at once.

New images from the Hubble Space Telescope capture majestic billows of gas and dust.

Sifting through the old, unlabeled, puzzling jars that fill a collection's junk drawer.

London’s Natural History Museum is putting the naturalist’s haul of skulls, molars, and more online.

Some ecological good news, courtesy of some hungry shelled swimmers.

Cat food cans, detergent containers, and thousands and thousands of plastic bottles.