Kate Golembiewski

Jan 8, 2025 | nytimes.com | Kate Golembiewski

Mark Sutton, an Imperial College London paleontologist, is not a punk. "I'm more of a folk and country person," he said. But when Dr. Sutton pieced together 3-D renderings of a tiny fossil mollusk, he was struck by the spikes that covered its wormlike body. "This is like a classic punk hairstyle, the way it's sticking up," he thought. He called the fossil "Punk." Then he found a similar fossil with downward-tipped spines reminiscent of long, side-swept "emo" bangs.

Nov 20, 2024 | lithub.com | Kate Golembiewski

The Moon’s influence on our planet is undeniable. Its gravity pulls the waters of our oceans, creating the tides. Its light cues the migration of birds, the foraging of wildebeests, and the synchronized mating of corals. It is not surprising, then, that since ancient times, humans have wondered if the cycle of the Moon might exert similar power over our minds.

Nov 8, 2024 | atlasobscura.com | Kate Golembiewski

Maybe you’re running from a killer, or you’re lost in your old high school on your way to the final exam. Maybe your teeth are crumbling and falling out, or your car is spinning out of control. But whatever form your bad dreams take, they’re almost certainly part of your life, and an unwelcome part at that. “I’ve always been personally very interested in dreams, and I had a lot of nightmares growing up,” says neuroscientist Michelle Carr.

Oct 25, 2024 | atlasobscura.com | Kate Golembiewski |Roxanne Hoorn |Joseph Hayes |Sarah Durn

From post offices and grocery stores to margarita bars and town halls, ghosts can turn up in the most ordinary places. In countless tales of terror and other stories we tell to scare ourselves, ghosts usually haunt abandoned buildings or float through cemeteries—but why wouldn’t they linger in everyday places too? From a post office to a margarita bar, spirits don’t discriminate what they populate.

Oct 24, 2024 | atlasobscura.com | Kate Golembiewski

“Cemeteries are full of life,” says biologist Anne Pringle as she walks through the Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s a bright, early October day and sunlight filters through the still-green leaves, catching strands of spider silk spun over tombstone crosses. Speckled mushrooms stand sentry over the manicured grass as squirrels chatter overhead.