Meghan Bartels

Outdoor art is made to be resilient, and not just against pigeons. But in the past week, public commemorative statues have been challenged like never before. Suddenly, Americans realized the U.S. Capitol’s statue collection commemorates more…

Most people have some sort of beauty routine, whether straightforward or complex. But society’s definition of “beauty” doesn’t affect us all equally. A new article in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology argues that trying to meet these…

If you’re planning a trip to watch the solar eclipse on Aug. 21, you’ll be partaking in an incredible, 150-year-old tradition. Particularly in the early years, they were dangerous, expensive and time-consuming. In case you run into traffic or clouds…

There are people who have been planning for the Aug. 21 eclipse for years. And then there are the rest of us, the ones who couldn’t take time off work to travel to the middle of nowhere and hope the clouds don’t follow, or the ones who didn’t…

If you purchased eclipse glasses through Amazon, be sure to check your email — the company announced Aug. 12 that it was recalling and refunding certain glasses after they decided to double-check the safety certification. (If you didn’t get an…

So you’ve heard that the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse will cross the U.S. — but in what direction? The sun rises in the east because Earth is rotating in that direction, so surely the eclipse should also start in the east and move west,…

Aug. 21’s total solar eclipse will be the first of its kind for American smartphone-toting citizen scientists. But people around the world have been studying eclipses for millennia. It’s sometimes difficult to draw the line between legends and…

Most people don’t read the fine print of the terms of service that are baked into many websites and products. On Aug. 13, white supremacist site the Daily Stormer was reminded that the fine print can have consequences. The site’s domain — but not…

Animals, like humans, can’t live without oxygen — our cells need it in order to suck the most energy out of sugary glucose molecules. When we exercise, panting for more oxygen, we cut corners and only break down glucose a little bit, to a chemical…

Earth has an incredible superpower you’ve probably never stopped to consider: Thanks to the swirling melted metal that makes up its outer core, the planet maintains a magnetic field that protects us from the worst of the sun’s radiation. The process…

About 26,0000 light-years past Earth, nestled in the center of our Milky Way galaxy, is a strange destination with a strange name: Sagittarius A*. Sagittarius A*, like a hoarder, has gathered about 4 million times as much mass as our sun — but…

We all know Instagram isn’t just for photos of your amazing dinner — but what if it could flag people who might have depression before they’ve been diagnosed? That’s the inspiration behind a study published Tuesday in EPJ Data Science, which begins…

Our solar system is special because it’s our home. But step outside on a dark night and you could see as many as 6,000 stars, each of which could be the sun to another neighborhood of planets. Makes you feel pretty small. Astronomers first spotted…

It’s a good month for celestial events. There’s the Perseid meteor shower, peaking Aug. 12. Then there’s the frenzy-inducing total solar eclipse crossing the U.S. on Aug. 21 and treating the rest of the country to a partial solar eclipse. But thanks…

We love Juno’s stunning new photos of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot as much as anyone, but when it comes to giant storms, the Great Red Spot has some stiff competition. Neptune is a good breeding ground for storms because its atmosphere is incredibly…

Thanks to smartphones, we never have to be separated from the internet and everything on it. But that doesn’t necessarily make us happier. Comedian Aziz Ansari knows that firsthand, as he discussed in a new interview with GQ: Whenever you check for…

Mercury is the runt of our solar system, but despite its small size, it’s a literal world of secrets. One remaining question might come as a surprise: We still aren’t quite sure what Mercury’s surface is like. That’s where Aug. 21’s total solar…

Usually, if a sea star gets an infection in an arm, it has a trick up its sleeve: The limb drops off and the sea star builds a new one. But in 2013, scientists studying the early days of what they later named sea star wasting disease noticed that…

If you have a knack for thinking on your feet in complicated situations and a degree in physical sciences, dust off your resume for one of the coolest jobs on Earth: NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer. The application period closes on Aug. 14 and…