Posts by Madeleine Muzdakis

Madeleine Muzdakis

Madeleine Muzdakis is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met and a historian of early modern Britain & the Atlantic world. She holds a BA in History and Mathematics from Brown University and an MA in European & Russian Studies from Yale University. Madeleine has worked in archives and museums for years with a particular focus on photography and arts education. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys hiking, film photography, and studying law while cuddling with her cat Georgia.
Astronomy
April 22, 2022

80-Mile-Wide Comet Hurtling Towards Earth Captured by NASA’s Hubble Telescope

Comets are basically icy space trash left over from the formation of the planets of our Solar System. While usually large by any normal usage of the word, they range widely in the circumference of their nucleus—the ball of ice and dirt at their center. NASA's Hubble Telescope has recently discovered the largest comet ever seen by astronomers—a comet larger than the state of Rhode Island.

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Nature
April 12, 2022

Mushrooms Have Their Own Language With Up to 50 “Words”

Humans create language through electrical impulses which course through our neurons. Communication is universal in the animal kingdom, but plants and fungi pose a bit of a silent mystery. As it turns out, they may communicate in “language” too. A new paper published in Royal Society Open Science suggests changes in fungi electrical potential indicate language. Surprisingly, each species seems to have their own lexicon.

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Good News
April 8, 2022

Charles Darwin’s Stolen Notebooks Are Mysteriously Returned to Library

In November 2000, Cambridge University librarians received a request to pull two precious items from their collections for photographing. The two items were notepads that once belonged to Charles Darwin, which contained his notes from the 1830s after his return from the Galapagos Islands. The notebooks mysteriously vanished from the library, an unexpected crime and devastating loss for the collections.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.