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Brittney Borowiec

The scientist Elizabeth Rona in about 1925 at the Radium Institute in Vienna. Through her work, the world would learn how radioactivity could be used as a clock in studying the earth’s history, informing the modern practice of geochronology. (Hans Pettersson Archive/Gothenburg University Library/New York Times)

Elizabeth Rona, the wandering polonium woman, changed radiation science forever

Brittney Borowiec
Channel catfish (Wikimedia Commons / Ryan Somma)

How to stop catfish from foisting their babies on you

Brittney Borowiec
File-This undated file photo from Oregon State University shows a school of yellow tang off the coast of Hawaii. The waters off the Hawaii’s largest island are home to a half-million brightly-colored tropic fish that are scooped up into nets each year and flown across the globe into aquariums from Berlin to Boston. Scientists say the aquarium fishery off the Big Island is among the best managed in the world, but it has nevertheless become the focus of a fight over whether it’s ever appropriate to remove fish from reefs for people to look at and enjoy. (AP Photo/Oregon State University, Bill Walsh,File) NO SALES (AP Photo/Oregon State University, Bill Walsh,File)

The weird and wonderful world of fish

Brittney Borowiec
Chinese men wearing masks to filter the pollution walk on a bridge near building shrouded by fog and pollution in Beijing, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017. China has long faced some of the worst air pollution in the world, blamed on its reliance of coal for energy and factory production, as well as a surplus of older, less efficient cars on its roads. Inadequate controls on industry and lax enforcement of standards have worsened the pollution problem. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Life is evolving through a hurricane of human pollution

Brittney Borowiec