The Nelson House looks remarkably composed for a building that survived the Siege of Yorktown. Standing along Yorktown’s Main Street, the Georgian house was built around 1730 by “Scotch Tom” Nelson, a wealthy merchant and member of one of colonial Virginia’s most prominent families. His grandson Thomas Nelson Jr. would become the house’s most famous…
Unlike museums that focus on naval battles or famous ships, the Watermen’s Museum celebrates the ordinary people who built a culture around the Chesapeake Bay. Known as “watermen,” this group includes the generations of fishermen, crabbers, oystermen, boatbuilders, and commercial mariners whose livelihoods depended on understanding the tides, winds, and rhythms of the water. The…
The trail to Fossil Beach winds through a forest, a marsh, and ends at what appears to be an unassuming stretch of sand along the York River. But look down instead of out. Mixed among shells and pebbles are fragments of a much older world: fossilized teeth, bones, and other remnants of marine life that…
“In Galicia, we have lots of rain and strong sun, so vegetation grows quickly and it’s hard to control,” shouts José Taboada, as we hurtle up a steep, rocky path in his rickety Land Rover. “In summer, when it dries, fires can start very easily.” Here, in Spain’s northwest, wildfires have ravaged the landscape in…
It is dawn in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Most of the tourists waiting to start their safari have come to see a tiger. Instead, another sight catches their attention: women in khaki uniforms climbing aboard the jeeps. “Everyone still stares when they see women wearing safari fatigues and leading…
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Rolling vistas Utah’s Zion National Park has long been a pioneer in visitor transportation: To reduce traffic, a shuttle system began operating in the park’s main canyon…
It’s a sight that stops Florida boaters and beachgoers in their tracks: a thick green sludge coating the water, smelling of rotten eggs and dead fish. Ashley Smyth, a coastal biogeochemist at the University of Florida, likens the color and consistency to guacamole. “I used to say pea soup, but then I moved to Florida,…
This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. Visitors to the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, captivated by gliding birds overhead and golden hills across the Bay waters, could be forgiven for failing to notice that the preserve is also home to the Bay’s newest levee. Most levees look…
For her, a Buryat costume is not a museum exhibit; it’s important to see the person Originally published on Global Voices Oksana Alkhunsaeva. Image via Glubina.me. Used with permission. This article was first published in Russian by online Russian media Potok and Novaya Vkladka on May 11, 2026. Global Voices translated it into English, edited…
Scientists may have found a way to regenerate the neurons that are lost due to conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, a new laboratory study hints. The research, published Aug. 26 in the journal The team applied a tool called Nano-Eraser to inhibit the protein PTBP1 in astrocytes. This changed them into neurons, they report. (Image credit:…
