Blog
Is Climate Change Affecting Ancient Ruins?
For the past few years, staff at Mesa Verde National Park have noticed something curious: It seems like more rocks are falling down from the alcoves where ancestral Puebloans built their magnificent cliff palaces more than 1,000 years ago. Naturally, the same processes that created these amphitheaters will continue until they disintegrate away. But to veteran staff members, it seems like the process is speeding up. One hypothesis: The freeze-thaw cycles that split the rock apart could be accelerating as a result of the more extreme temperature fluctuations that come with…
An Agonizing but Useful Obsession
This past spring, I heard a story that outraged me. I was interviewing Caroline Gleich, an accomplish pro skier, for a piece on the pay gap in professional sports when she told me a harrowing tale of online abuse. Someone—or several people—had been harassing her on Instagram for years, posting degrading comments about her accomplishments, skills, and looks. Some were downright scary, suggesting they'd be happy when she died. The harassment clearly took a toll on Caroline and her wellbeing. I dashed off an email to one of my editors…
Floating in a Pool of Light
A couple years ago, I caught a flight to Cancun with little more than a duffel and a motorcycle helmet. My husband, who had been traveling around Mexico with some buddies, picked me up and I hopped on the back of his bike. The first thing we did in the dwindling light was head to a cenote just before it closed. We found ourselves blissfully alone, lolling in the preternatural stillness, the pool a collection of thousands of blues and greens. This is the gorgeous image the Nat Geo…