A child reading about the phases and rings of Saturn

Science Lit for Kids Holds a Mirror Aloft

Over decades, books that rouse children’s interest in the natural world have morphed in style and approach—an evolution reflective of tectonic societal change.
Vannevar Bush

Science in War, Science in Peace: The Origins of the NSF

The 1950 establishment of a federal agency devoted to space, physics, and more belied a cross-party consensus that such disciplines were vital to national interest.
Ridge trail to Mt Lafayette in the White Mountains, New Hampshire

How Did Eastern North America Form?

With many collisions and much crumpling of rock, down the ages. The story holds lessons for how the edges of continents are built and change over time.
An illustration of a UFO

Far Out: Why Don’t We Believe in UFOs?

Is it scientific impossibility or simply human ego that stops us from entertaining the idea of extraterrestrial visitation?
A male maratus splendens spider on a stalk of grass.

Tiny Splendid Peacock Spiders

They have the fastest known jump among their kind according to a new study.
Greenland village of Kulusuk in winter

Greenland: Polar Politics

Though it may seem like a new topic of concern, the glaciated landscape of Greenland has floated in and out of American politics for decades.

JSTOR Daily: What I Learned

Go behind the scenes with our writers as we celebrate JSTOR Daily’s tenth anniversary!
Print advertisement for an electron microscope and other electronics manufactured and sold by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for various scientific and industrial applications. The advertisement features an illustrated depiction of a bacteriologist viewing samples of the influenza virus under magnification. The accompanying text details the electron microscope's ability to make the infinitesimal visible through the use of electrons instead of light for illumination.

Viruses Through the Looking-Glass

The electron microscope brought about a paradigm shift in virology in the middle of the twentieth century.
A view of Europa captured by JunoCam, the public engagement camera aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft, 2022

NASA’s Europa Clipper

The spacecraft will investigate whether an icy moon of Jupiter can support alien life.
Satellite image of salt deposits on Mars

“Follow the Salt”: A New Strategy for Finding Life on Mars

Scientists might be looking for Martian life in the wrong place.