Jesslyn Shields is a freelance science writer working out of Athens, Georgia. She writes about brand new research for HowStuffWorks. Since 2010, Jesslyn's written science news and content for educational videos, because she loves to always have something new to yammer on about at parties. You can find her online at www.jesslynshields.com
Recent Contributions
Although spending time upside down can be good for overall health, doing so eventually can be fatal under the right conditions.
From ancient times until today, people have been captivated by these iconic, mysterious birds. What is it about owls that makes them the enduring subject of myth and superstition?
Some TV shows are lucky to stick around for just one season, but these did that and then some. In fact, they're the longest-running dramas and comedies in television history.
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The moon has seen a lot in its 4.5 million years of life, and this detailed geologic map serves as testament.
Malls in America can be massive enough to contain hotels, ice rinks and even aquariums, in addition to the usual shops and restaurants. Here are 10 of the biggest shopping malls in the U.S.
Yep, fungi are all around us — in the grocery store, in the woods or living on your discolored toenail. And fungi can break down almost anything.
A perfect square is a number, but it can also be explained using an actual square.
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Research shows no two brains are put together quite the same way. And we can find out the patterns in under two minutes.
How do we consider a Thing with no edge? Ecosystem ecologists are always trying.
No life, except possibly very small bacteria, would exist on Earth without photosynthesis.
Chloroplasts are where some of the most miraculous chemistry on Earth goes down.
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Boyle's Law describes the relationship between pressure and the volume of a container with gas in it. As the volume of the container decreases, the pressure inside the container increases.
You might wonder what phosphates do, but they are so intrinsic to our daily lives that the question really is: What don't phosphates do?
This dragon is illuminated every night, spitting out both fire and water on weekends and holidays, as it sways its way over the Han River in Da Nang.
Is there anything glycerine can't do?
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Sealab was a U.S. Navy program that allowed undersea divers to go deeper and stay underwater longer. So why did it disappear?
Snake plants are attractive and virtually ironclad houseplants, almost impossible to kill, though some of the hype about them acting as air purifying filters has been overblown.
Modern color theory got its start with, believe it or not, Sir Isaac Newton, who also discovered a little thing called gravity and invented calculus.
There are a lot of ways mental real estate can be allocated. Neanderthals evolved their big brains in a different way than we did — and you see where that got them.
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Most mammals have a penis bone called a baculum, but humans don't. A new study sheds light on the history of the baculum, and why ours is missing.
The very idea of trying to subtract one fraction from another may send you into convulsions of fear, but don't worry — we'll show you how.
Cousins are indeed complicated. Who's your first cousin once removed? And what are kissing cousins? We'll tell you in our cousins tutorial.
Subsidence, or the decline in the elevation of land surface, is creating a problem for some coastal cities as sea levels rise.
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Llamas and alpacas are very similar animals, but the differences in personality are striking.
Hummingbird feeders are a great way to help those little fliers, but to feed them responsibly, you need to keep your feeders clean and fill them correctly.