Fourth Estate | Life & News

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

As traditional media outlets struggle to hold power to account, citizen watchdogs can still make a splash. Man_Half-tube/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

Business

Watchdog journalism’s future may lie in the work of independent reporters...

Staff Writer - October 6, 2025

Alex Volonte, University of Florida In September 2025, podcaster Pablo Torre published an investigation alleging that the NBA’s Los...

EXPLORING NATURE

Do the seemingly endless doorways represent a woman trapped in domesticity or infinite ways out? Philadelphia Museum of Art

Art

How Dorothea Tanning’s ‘Birthday’ painting challenged male-dominated surrealism

Staff Writer - September 29, 2025

Sally Jane Brown, West Virginia University When American artist Dorothea Tanning painted “Birthday” in 1942, she announced her arrival...

How do you measure the concentration of a drug in a tortoise shell? Thirawatana Phaisalratana/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Calling in the animal drug detectives − helping veterinarians help beluga whales,...

September 27, 2025

A sunflower sea star may be about to snack on some sea urchins in California. Brent Durand/Moment via Getty Images

How sea star wasting disease transformed the West Coast’s ecology and economy

September 26, 2025

Colorado’s $3.9 billion wine industry is threatened by a tiny aphid. Courtesy of Charlotte Oliver

How a devastating grape pest is reshaping vineyards across Colorado’s Western Slope

September 24, 2025

Biosphere 2 is a research facility located near Tucson, Ariz. Katja Schulz/Flickr, CC BY

Biosphere 2’s latest mission: Learning how life first emerged on Earth...

September 23, 2025