The Year That Was and Wasn’t
We asked some of our favorite journalists, writers, and thinkers: What were the most important events of 2019, and what were the least?
nature
A collection of 34 issues
The Year That Was and Wasn’t
We asked more than two dozen of our favorite journalists, writers, and thinkers: What were the most important events of 2018, and what were the least?
The Year That Was and Wasn’t
Yes, 2017 went off the rails. But what pushed it? We asked 29 of our favorite journalists, writers, and thinkers: What were the most important events of the past 12 months, and what were the least?
El Lobo Returns Home
The battle over America’s wolves goes back centuries. In an excerpt from the forthcoming “Wolf Nation,” a journalist follows the release of a single family into the wild.
Dark Waters
Some of the world’s largest, oldest fish live in Oregon. Why anyone would want to vandalize them, even abduct them, takes explaining.
This Was No Accident
Forty years after Jaws, why the very first blockbuster should be considered art—and how it helped one man to survive.
Fight or Flight
A near-death experience makes this week’s International Asteroid Day a little more tricky to celebrate.
A Recipe for Disasters
Calculating the probable dates for very bad things—a catastrophic solar megastorm; Seattle destroyed by earthquake—that are likely to occur.
Of Fish and Farmers
Consider the Delta smelt: an old fish in California, endemic to the upper Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary, now caught between its home and thousands of drought-stricken acres.
Queen of the Jungle
Orangutans are some of humans’ closest relatives, genetically. They also rarely exhibit aggression, despite how we've abused them. One is different.
The Mall of the Wild
Even cable series must adapt to survive. Possible spinoffs of “Naked and Afraid” explore charted territory.
What Doesn’t Kill You Doesn’t Kill You
A visit to a bear sanctuary could cure you of your bear phobia. Or it could turn your fear into a full-blown obsession.
Born, Still
A newborn wavers between life and something else. For the father, a walk in the woods elucidates the struggle between nature and nurture.
A Sudden and Awful Manner
In early New England, anyone who stood near an open door or window faced mortal danger. A conversation with a woman who hunts for gravestones with epitaphs describing death by lightning strike.
Hey, Bear
The great American wilderness is home to hungry stomachs, including some that reside in animals weighing 600 pounds more than you.
This Will Be the Year That Was
Already 2013 has seen America drive off the fiscal cliff, only to freeze momentarily, then either reverse in mid-air or drop straight into the canyon—depending on how you look at it. Here's more of what to expect over the next 12 months.
Habitat for Humanity
Manhattan is rife with lumberjacks, Los Angeles is hot for Appalachia, and the latest trend in pornography is cabins. Yes, cabins. But when a woman leaves New York for a log structure of her own, a metamorphosis occurs.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Apocalypse
When a Frankenstorm arrives from Haiti with destructive powers, the semi-professional student of zombie literature and history has a unique ability to perceive the arrival of end times. Welcome to America's new normal: the nonfictional apocalypse.
Arbotchery
An illustrated catalog of abuse taking place across the country, in cities large and small, where trees are being hacked, whacked, and chopped into unnatural shapes in the name of power.
How to Paint an Oak Tree
A man who spent three years painting the same English tree repeatedly—in all weather, day and night—explains how exactly, and why.
Watching for the Buffleheads
New Yorkers may think they are surrounded by skyscrapers, but what’s really around is ducks. Identifying the waterbirds of Manhattan.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting New Neighbors
Across the U.S., neighbors of foreclosed homes are eagerly awaiting the new homeowners—soon-to-be acquaintances, friends, lenders of spices, spouse swappers.
The Broccoli That Fell From the Sky
October’s bounty includes apples, blackberries, and something half brain, half vegetable. On a New York City sidewalk, discovering a fruit for a mastodon.
Nest
Where people build homes, birds sometimes build nests—and there’s no guarantee cohabitation of the species will be idyllic.
Go Climb a Tree
When all you want is get away from it all, just grab a branch, hoist yourself up, and leave your troubles below.
Persephone in the Park
Spring is popping up all around New York City, but those crocuses have a dark history. Explaining the Pagan past of what's growing on 87th Street.
The Higher Line
When the new High Line Park opened last summer, New Yorkers lined up to be disappointed. A recent transplant finds it full of miracles.
A Nature Documentary: The Post-Screening Q&A
The film lays bare all the raw intensity of the subject matter, holding back nothing. But some may wonder: What’s the lion’s motivation?
Field Notes From 89th Street
Native New Yorkers live a traditional village life: of multiple generations, friends from kindergarten, and ghosts. Taking a naturalist’s eye to a corner of the city.
Forced: A Flower Show
Gardeners love to commune with nature. Though not as much as they love to commune with ice cream and plasma screens and loud noises and personality quizzes. Our writer reports from the middle of 33 indoor acres of plants.
Insects and Expats
No matter how many ferns we arrange or seedlings we covet, many of us have a very complicated relationship with the landscape. This week: A London bumblebee needs no help, thank you.
The Secret Gardener
Your parents' hobbies seem odd and quaint until you discover you can't sleep late on the weekends anymore. Finding early middle age in the flower boxes of your backyard.
Springtime for Washington
Daisies and rifles are never easy bedfellows, especially when both are just starting to bloom.
Operation Fish From Hell
The U.S. has many problems right now, but its deadliest threat can grow to three feet long: the Chinese Snakehead. Our reporter goes deep undercover to get the government's reaction to a meat-eating snake.