Articles by Jessica Leigh Hester

His scribbles—which mention the curative power of toad vomit—sold for $81,000.

The effort to document Black Lives Matter and more—in real time.

Drones helped researchers keep up with fish that are longer than a person and as fast as a car.

A sculptor hitched the cackling bird to a trailer and is taking it on the road.

The monument in Birmingham, Alabama, became a flashpoint in the fight for racial justice.

The social-distancing era is the perfect time to build a Rube Goldberg machine.

A time-lapse shows that, before they unleash storms, the clouds look pretty soothing. (At least from space.)

Explore a captivating compendium of cosmic illustrations.

The slew of ephemera was tucked in a copper box behind a cornerstone at Arlington National Cemetery.

Look, document, but please don't touch.

A collaborative photo project tells personal stories of the pandemic in the U.K.

Caddisfly larvae are adapting to polluted waterways, but their recycling strategy has its drawbacks.

They’re huge, rare, and melting all the time.

Even during a pandemic, someone's gotta feed the flesh-eating beetles.

And sometimes involves storing dead fish in your in-laws’ freezer.

When nothing in the world seems to fit together, “dissected maps” offer a cognitive balm.

Matt McKnight caught a botanical maelstrom on camera in Eastern Washington.

Gaze into the depths of the ocean—from space.

Clouds are "a wilderness within everybody's grasp."

Invite your relatives to share great stories with these tips from oral historians.

Pressed plants can be your journal of the pandemic.

Watering and weeding can't wait until the pandemic has passed.

Who needs stones when you have marshmallows or foam?

Masks, ventilators, and Zoom recordings may one day be the artifacts of our time.