History, Natural History & the Arts
In the archives of the Saratoga Springs Public Library, history often arrives in unexpected ways. Sometimes, it appears in a long-forgotten photograph, a stack of handwritten correspondence, or a faded ledger tucked inside an archival box.
Here, it arrived as a partially processed collection donated to the Saratoga Room over two decades ago. [Read more…] about Radium to Radiation Oncology: A Forgotten Saratoga Physician
Witch’s brooms are the result of odd disruptions in a plant’s normal growth, and also the source of many cultivated varieties of dwarf conifers for the home garden. What possible reason would a witch have to leave their broom in a tree?
No reason, really, but the witch’s brooms occasionally found on woody plants, particularly conifers, resemble the traditional besom, a broom fashioned by attaching a bundle of gnarly twigs to the end of a handle. [Read more…] about Witch’s Broom: Natural Oddity to Garden Variety
Picture this: while walking in the woods, a fungal spore lands on your skin, perhaps in a crease at the crook of your elbow.
This particularly infectious fungus invades your body’s systems before busting out all over. [Read more…] about Last Climb of the Zombie Millipede
Amid Trump administration threats to historic preservation, the largest cultural resources management company in the United States abruptly shut down October 1st, quietly laying off more than 600 employees across more than 20 offices without a public announcement, according to reporting by Science.
Chronicle Heritage formerly operated as PaleoWest. In 2022, through private equity backing of The Riverside Company, the company consolidated with numerous smaller cultural resource management companies. It was generating an estimated $100 million annually. [Read more…] about Largest US Historic Preservation, Contract Archeology Firm Abruptly Closes
In autumn, the quilt of color covering the northern woodlands attracts people from around the world.
As a retired naturalist, I have found that observing falling leaves brings more depth to enjoying autumn, because I have the opportunity to see the familiar colors with the new lens of watching the motion of falling leaves.
This kind of close observation can add another dimension of pleasure to this special phenomenon. [Read more…] about The Science of Falling Leaves
Communities across New York State are at risk of more severe impacts from increased heat due to climate change. Infrastructure traps and stores heat throughout the day and reduces cooling at night, which is known as the urban heat island effect. This effect can exacerbate the dangers of extreme heat events. [Read more…] about New Heat Island Mapping Tools Now Available
A stunning moth visits my deck in late summer. At an inch long, it doesn’t have the stature of a luna or cecropia moth, but the brilliant gradient of vermilion to gold across its wings and body, offset with contrasting black bars, is eye-catching.
It’s a painted lichen moth, a member of a group of small moths whose caterpillars are known for feeding on lichens. [Read more…] about The Miniature Mysteries of Lichen Moths
New York State is facing a historic “Super El Niño” for the upcoming 2026–2027 winter season, with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center placing the odds of a very strong event lasting through winter at over 90%.
This rare atmospheric pattern is shaping-up to be one of the most intense on record and indicates that winter in New York will likely feature milder overall temperatures, reduced total seasonal snowfall, and an elevated risk for large coastal storms. [Read more…] about The Winter Outlook & An El Nino Update
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will permanently close its Philadelphia museum to the public on Sunday, September 27, 2026. “For nearly 200 years, the museum has been a welcoming space, creating memories for generations of families, schoolchildren, nature lovers and scientists,” an announcement made to the public says. “The Academy is more, however, than the galleries and display areas. Our collections containing more than 19 million specimens and our critical scientific research must be prioritized.” [Read more…] about One of America’s Oldest Natural History Museums Closing
Celestial events are among the oldest and most profound human experiences of the cosmos, inspiring stories as grand as the sky is wide to explain the marvelous spectacles that arch overhead. Few natural wonders are more awesome than the blazing fireballs that streak across our night skies.
And the Perseid meteor shower, which appears during some of the warmest nights of the year, features up to 100 meteors per hour. [Read more…] about The Perseids: Summer’s Big Celestial Show
Imagine you’re a fruit fly by a pond on a sunny day, whirring along in search of food or other flies. Suddenly, you’re scooped up, whisked to a perch, and efficiently devoured by a blue dasher dragonfly. For little flies like you, blue dashers have a 97 percent capture rate. For comparison, great white sharks only catch their prey 50 percent of the time. What makes dragonflies such successful hunters?
Stacey Combes and graduate student Christofer Brothers film dragonflies hunting inside a greenhouse to learn more about their technique. Combes and Brothers focus on “perchers,” species that wait on perches and take short flights to nab prey. [Read more…] about Dangerous Dragonflies: Fast & Furious
Strung Up: How White America Learned to Lynch Black Children (Beacon Press, 2026) examines how the lynching of Black children became not an aberration, but a normalized feature of American racial violence.
Drawing on meticulous archival research Strung Up traces how white supremacy trained itself socially, culturally, and psychologically to tolerate and ritualize the destruction of Black childhood, including the unborn. [Read more…] about ‘Strung Up’ Explains How White America Learned to Lynch Black Children
Snapshot NY, a citizen science program created by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Cornell University in 2025, will begin Year Two in July.
The innovative program, which enables the public to participate in the state’s efforts to monitor wildlife by deploying privately-owned trail cameras, has already enlisted more than 800 volunteers. [Read more…] about Snapshot NY Citizen Science Wildlife Monitoring Project
The Black-Crowned Night Heron, historically the most abundant wading bird in New York Harbor and an important environmental indicator, is vanishing fast, according to new research led by NYC Bird Alliance and published today the scientific journal Conservation Science and Practice. The study confirms that local Black-Crowned Night Heron populations have declined by 55% in just 22 years. [Read more…] about NY Harbor’s Black-Crowned Night Herons Could Vanish
The annual Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative State of the Lake meeting was held in March in Burlington, Vermont. The meeting offered an opportunity for the public to learn about the ongoing research and angling opportunities that exist on Lake Champlain and is now available online. [Read more…] about 2026 State of Lake Champlain Fisheries
A canoeist paddling toward the center of Middle Saranac Lake can still hear the dull, monotonous roar of car and truck traffic. Are there any places left in the Adirondacks that could still be considered remote, far removed from the sounds and sights of urbanized America? And if so, how many?
That is what a group of environmental protection organizations – the Adirondack Council, Adirondack Wild, Adirondack Wilderness Advocates and the Rewilding Institute – hope the Adirondack Park Agency and the Department of Environmental Conservation can determine. [Read more…] about Measuring and Protecting Adirondack Park Remote Places
One of the great joys of early May in the Northeast is the dawn-break aubade of songbirds returning to summer habitats or passing through to their nesting grounds in higher latitudes.
Mornings that only a month ago were silent – save the croaking crows and shrieking blue jays – are now filled with a polyphonic chorus of trills, chirrs, and fluted arias that quicken both body and soul. [Read more…] about Songbirds Struggle With Noise Pollution
Every year I know that spring has arrived when it’s time for my family to forage for ramps on a two-acre patch on the hill above my house. We have just a few weeks to enjoy their spiciness before they disappear from the landscape, along with other spring ephemerals.
While we prize many spring ephemerals for their fleeting beauty – flourishing before the overstory trees leaf out, then dying back as the shade season begins – they also are important to nutrient cycling in woodlands. [Read more…] about Forest Spring Ephemerals & The Vernal Dam Hypothesis
New York Attorney General Letitia James and 20 other attorneys general today filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block sweeping new funding conditions imposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that they say jeopardize billions of dollars in funding for critical state programs.
The lawsuit challenges USDA’s new “2026 Conditions,” which force states to comply with vague and arguably unlawful policy requirements or risk losing essential funding for programs that feed families, support farmers, and protect communities. Attorney General James and the coalition are asking the court to block these conditions and protect states’ access to funding already approved by Congress. [Read more…] about Attorneys General Sue Trump Regime Over USDA Funding Conditions
![Beryl (/ˈbɛrəl/ BERR-əl) is a mineral composed of beryllium aluminium silicate with the chemical formula Be3Al2(SiO3)6.[6] Well-known varieties of beryl include emerald and aquamarine.](https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Mineral-Beryl-e1774449180809.jpg)
Wiley, which calls itself “a global leader in authoritative content and research intelligence for the advancement of scientific discovery, innovation and learning,” has announced a new collaborative project with the American Museum of Natural History to extend access to the Museum’s renowned mineral collection to scientists around the world.
This new project, a Raman spectral database, serves the museum’s mission to disseminate knowledge about the natural world “through scientific research and education.” [Read more…] about Spectral Database Planned for Museum of Natural History Mineral Collection
Use your bank’s “bill pay” option (or just send a check)
Thanks for your support! These are difficult times. Without your support we cannot publish the Almanack.
*Donations are not tax deductible.
(Click the X in the top right corner this box to not see this message again for 7 days).