The Organic Source of Spring’s Distinct Scent

The unmistakable (and hopeful) scent that emerges around springtime has long been traced to an organic source: the soil-based compound geosmin. Scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the John Innes Centre and Lund University have attributed the familiar yet often unplaceable smell—much like a rainy day or freshly turned earth—to a “symbiotic relationship between a six-legged worm, known as the springtail, and Streptomyces, …

40 Artists Illustrate The Concept of Anxiety for EYEYAH! Kids’ Magazine

For its sixth issue, Singapore-based kids’ magazine EYEYAH! asked an international array of digital artists and designers to illustrate what they believe the word “anxiety” looks and feels like, as well as ways to overcome it. The resulting 40 images offer numerous perspectives: some hopeful, others overwhelming, all colorful. EYEYAH! co-founders Tanya Wilson and Steve Lawler created the award-winning publication to help children cope with …

The Tarot Reader and Activist Who Created DC Comics’ First Transgender Superhero

Created in the 1960s by DC Comics, Doom Patrol is an eccentric superhero team comprised of complex characters like Danny the Street, a sentient neighborhood that identifies as genderqueer. It’s fitting then, that this team would also boast DC Comics’ first transgender superhero, Kate Godwin, written by their first out trans writer: Rachel Pollack. Hailing from Brooklyn, Pollack led a stereotypical straight cisgender male life …