Edith’s checkerspot butterfly: Checkered past, uncertain future
By Tim Vernimmen How do animal populations respond to climate change? After studying the same butterfly and its habitats for decades, two biologists explain that it’s complicated — but endlessly intriguing. Read more
The obscure calculation transforming climate policy
By Ula Chrobak After long debate, economists and philosophers are reaching consensus on how to value future generations Read more
ICYMI: Our December 7 event
Beyond COP27: Who will pay for climate solutions?
EVENT REPLAY: Economic issues were front and center at the most recent global climate summit. Join Tobias Adrian of the International Monetary Fund and Shuang Liu of the World Resources Institute to take stock of the investments needed to prevent future climate disasters. Watch the video
Our holiday gift guide
Wearables
Science labs are often clinical, muted environments. If you want to give a bit of pizazz to someone stuck at the bench, look no further than Svaha and Smarty Pants, which offer science-themed clothes and accessories. Svaha has dresses, skirts, ties, T-shirts and other wearables featuring STEM-related prints, from patterns of transistors and capacitors to stripes resembling the layers of the Earth’s crust (and check out the matching family set aglow with dinosaurs). Smarty Pants offers bling of all sorts — jewelry and hair clips, bedazzled safety goggles — and clothing with a dash of sass. Your lucky giftee will be sure to garner attention in their periodic table crop top.
Exit through the gift shop
Museum shops can be treasure troves. For the natural history lover on your list, visit the online store at Chicago’s Field Museum, which has flesh-eating beetle memorabilia, items for your gem and mineral aficionado and, for that person who already has everything, a Sue the T. rex replica tooth. Head over to the Exploratorium for hands-on, interactive items, including coding toys, pocket microscopes and scribbling machines. Doesn’t the budding chemist in your life need a kit for making perfume, gummy bears or glowing snow? And for those with (or without) green thumbs, check out the many plant-related presents from Kew Gardens or the New York Botanical Garden. Tools include a Blue Meadow watering can and snips, but you will also find botanical bedspreads and Tiffany-inspired collapsible vases. (And remember that museum memberships make a great gift.)
For every -ologist
Whether you’re shopping for an anthropologist or zoologist, there’s a perfect gift out there for them — and nearly everyone in between. Etsy has several boutique collections of science-inspired artworks, apparel and homewares, including a capybara facts tote bag or a synapse mug (don’t forget the brain wrapping paper). Or make your public health pals smile with the Deadly Bacteria 6-Pack or a stuffed-toy heartworm for Fido from Giant Microbes. Other plushies include a brain, uterus, large intestine and more organ-themed accoutrements from I Heart Guts. For the space enthusiast, visit the BBC’s Sky at Night magazine — its gift picks include “sunoculars” (binocs for safe sunspot-viewing), a moon globe and pinhole constellation cards. And industrial supplier Thomas’s lists feature gadgets galore: equation wall clocks, Apollo 11 lunar lander Lego sets and the ever-useful flashlight gloves.
Art & science
CREDIT: J. ASPIN, A FAMILIAR TREATISE ON ASTRONOMY (1825) / PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW
Keep on giving
In some cases, the death of an author or artist starts a 70-year clock. When time is up, the person’s work may become free for the public to use — a shift that could transform the walls of your home, if you know where to look. One place to find newly affordable art for you or someone you love is Public Domain Review’s print shop. Hundreds of illustrations, sketches, photographs and more from across the centuries are available in a range of sizes, from the delightfully eerie French book cover for The War of the Worlds to depictions of astrological constellations. Shown above is “Sagittarius and Corona Australis, Microscopium and Telescopium,” part of a 32-card set known as Urania’s Mirror or a View of the Heavens, published around 1825. Each card was pierced with holes of varying size, such that the constellation would “shine” when the card was held up to a light. Be sure to also peruse the collections of maps, books and their handful of T-shirts, totes and mugs.
