Literary Hub » natural history

Cursed Mountains and Deathly Lakes: When Nature Is Explained By Myth

Cursed Mountains and Deathly Lakes: When Nature Is Explained By Myth

Adrienne Mayor Explores the Folklore and Legends Behind Natural Phenomena From Across the World

By Adrienne Mayor | October 22, 2025

How an Ancient Ice Age Froze the Entire Earth—And Helped Humanity Flourish

How an Ancient Ice Age Froze the Entire Earth—And Helped Humanity Flourish

Laura Poppick on the Power and Permanence of Nature's Coldest Element

By Laura Poppick | July 22, 2025

The World is Alive; or, How Robert Macfarlane Came to Trust His Senses

The World is Alive; or, How Robert Macfarlane Came to Trust His Senses

Daegan Miller on the Beloved Nature Writer’s Latest Work

By Daegan Miller | June 5, 2025

When Bees Discover the Scientists Who Dedicated Their Lives to Studying Them

When Bees Discover the Scientists Who Dedicated Their Lives to Studying Them

From Peter Kuper’s Illustrated Natural History, “Insectopolis”

By Peter Kuper | May 16, 2025

Dissolving Certainties: On Reading the Complex Story of Carbon in Our World

Dissolving Certainties: On Reading the Complex Story of Carbon in Our World

Paul Hawken Merges Science and Indigenous Wisdom on a Heating Planet

By Paul Hawken | March 18, 2025

Winter is Coming: The Changing of the Seasons Through a Mastodon’s Eyes

Winter is Coming: The Changing of the Seasons Through a Mastodon’s Eyes

Riley Black Chronicles Migratory Patterns and Seasonal Cycles in a World Before Humans

By Riley Black | February 24, 2025

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Giants’ Bones? Fossilized Testicles? How Humans Reacted to the Discovery of Dinosaurs

By Edward Dolnick | August 8, 2024

Slippery, Slimy and Sublime: On Our Fascination with Eels

By Ellen Ruppel Shell | August 5, 2024

How Did Phrenology Get So Popular in Victorian Society?

By Michael Taylor | July 17, 2024

How the Continual Movement of Wildlife Regulates the Natural World

How the Continual Movement of Wildlife Regulates the Natural World

James Bradley on the Integral Role of Migratory Patterns to Human and Environmental Wellbeing

By James Bradley | July 15, 2024

A Fundamental Boundary: What the Mississippi River Means to America

A Fundamental Boundary: What the Mississippi River Means to America

Boyce Upholt on the Meaning and Use of Rivers and Other Waterways

By Boyce Upholt | June 11, 2024

Soil As Archive: On the Work of Recognizing Alternate Forms of Sentience

Soil As Archive: On the Work of Recognizing Alternate Forms of Sentience

Angie Sijun Lou Considers the Many Conceptions of Time

By Angie Sijun Lou | May 8, 2024

Secrets in Amber: How Trees Help Preserve Essential Prehistory

Secrets in Amber: How Trees Help Preserve Essential Prehistory

Daniel Lewis on the Millennia-Long History of Insects, and What It Can Teach Us

By Daniel Lewis | March 14, 2024

In Search of the Elusive, Eternal Otter

In Search of the Elusive, Eternal Otter

Miriam Darlington Listens for the Telltale “Yickers”

By Miriam Darlington | February 21, 2024

How an Icelandic Bird Led to the Discovery of Human-Caused Extinction

How an Icelandic Bird Led to the Discovery of Human-Caused Extinction

Gísli Pálsson on the Undersung Work of the Naturalists John Wolley and Alfred Newton

By Gísli Pálsson | February 7, 2024

Why Eccentrics Find a Natural Home in Fiction

Why Eccentrics Find a Natural Home in Fiction

Carlos Fonseca Finds a New Language in the World of the Outcast

By Carlos Fonseca Suarez | May 25, 2023

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