Midwesterners deserve their summer fun after typically long, dreary winters and rainy springs. But when summer arrives, we are warned about sunburn, dehydration, picnic food spoilage, Lake Michigan undertows, red-winged […]
Author Archives: Meg Evans Smith
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Citizen Scientists: Everyday People Doing Real Science
When gravitational waves buzzed through the L-shaped LIGO detectors in Louisiana and Washington states last January, it marked the third such detection in as many years. Scientists and astronomy geeks […]
Posted inArt & Life, Uncategorized
Medical Cannabis: More Than Just a High Road to Relief
With subtle signs in its frosted windows, Evanston’s only medical marijuana dispensary is easy to miss while strolling the Maple and Church shopping district. Entry into the austere PharmaCannis facility, […]
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Invasion of the Garden Snatchers
In case you missed it, scatterings of pretty little yellow flowers amid lush green foliage have sprouted throughout Evanston over the past few weeks. Their sunny faces surprised gardeners, cheered […]
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Amid Climate Change and Warming Weather, Earth Day Matters
Almost 50 years after the first Earth Day in 1970, concerns about the “greenhouse effect” have evolved into fevered debates about global warming and climate change – heating up along […]
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Rats!
If Evanston could hire the Pied Piper of Hamelin, City Council would not have to discuss a subject that gives everyone the willies: rats. But indeed, at the Feb. 6 […]
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Love is All in the Brain
“Everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head’s in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather; and before you […]
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Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)
A magical northern lights display, most common near the icy north and south poles, begins 93 million miles away on that giant fireball we call the sun. When concentrated pockets […]
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For Smokers, Quitting Can Be a Tough Resolution to Keep
Every January, countless people resolve to improve their lives. Recently the most popular New Year’s resolutions included getting fit, losing weight, saving money, and spending more time with family, according […]
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In the Bleak Midwinter, Make a Wish on a Shooting Star
Wherever night skies are dark enough – especially far from the glow of city lights – skywatchers might see shooting stars flit through the sky. Every so often Earth passes […]