Maggie Koerth
@maggiek.bsky.social
13K followers 1.3K following 2.5K posts
Science journalist and editor. Columnist at Star Tribune. Sometimes news at Science Friday. Nieman Fellow '15. Previously: Science journalist with FiveThirtyEight, NYT Magazine, BoingBoing, mental_floss, and etc. My views are not my employer's.
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maggiek.bsky.social
From the Malt-O-Meal factory in Northfield to the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District in Duluth, Minnesota’s cities are full of smells that pull us back to specific moments in our lives — who we were and how we felt. But why are smell and memory so linked?

www.startribune.com/science-memo...
Koerth: Wild onions, jasmine, Malt-O-Meal: What do your memories smell like?
"Minnesota’s cities are full of smells that pull us back to specific moments in our lives — who we were and how we felt," Maggie Koerth writes.
www.startribune.com
maggiek.bsky.social
They made me rewind several scenes so they could watch them a second time. The youngest says her throat hurts from laughing. Leslie Nielsen would have been proud
maggiek.bsky.social
Pleased to report that the new Naked Gun stands up to the tastes of a modern 10 and 12 year old.
maggiek.bsky.social
Skywayyyy map!
katiecashman.bsky.social
The skyway system is an incredible asset in MPLS and we have to work together to find creative ways to keep the skyways open later! I’m excited about this new digital map and am working on incentivizes for skyway access, events, signage, and targeted approaches to bottlenecks.
maggiek.bsky.social
So uh, did we all know already that Norway gave out the Peace Prizes instead of Sweden? Asking for a friend.
Reposted by Maggie Koerth
biographic.bsky.social
In case you missed it: we are hard at work on a deep dive into how the Trump Administration's policies are affecting biodiversity.

bioGraphic's news editor, @colinschultz.bsky.social, wants to know: what do you, our readers, want to know more about this topic? What questions do you have?
colinschultz.bsky.social
1/ 🧪🍃🐙📰 We @biographic.bsky.social have been hard at work for the past 8 months developing a deep, rich, behind-the-scenes feature story exploring how the Trump Administration's cuts to international conservation are affecting biodiversity on the ground.
Reposted by Maggie Koerth
junoryleejournalism.com
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.
Reposted by Maggie Koerth
taylordahlin.com
anyone living in mint properties now or recently who can answer a question about language in their leases? DM me please
maggiek.bsky.social
More importantly, if the gangs have figured out how to counteract the Bowling Alone problem then someone needs to call Robert Putnam
maggiek.bsky.social
I have long maintained that if I ever get rich, I’m donating an endowed copy machine to the University of Kansas. The Koerth Memorial Print-Copy Machine will have a plaque on it. I plan to locate it in the creepiest corner of one of the Humanities buildings.
oddletters.bsky.social
my freshmen basically structure their entire lives around not printing things out bc the university makes it so expensive for them to do that. im looking into coursepacks for the next time i teach this course
carallewis.bsky.social
Does anyone still make coursepacks for students?

Super common when I was in college & grad school, but I imagine putting PDFs on the LMS has mostly (entirely?) replaced it. Anyone just printing out everything for them?
Reposted by Maggie Koerth
johnmkuhn.bsky.social
genuine question for mid-career people: what concrete tips do you have to keep service from swamping your own writing?
maggiek.bsky.social
As an adult, I refuse to believe 5% of any city is regularly attending ANY organization.
Reposted by Maggie Koerth
royalpratt.bsky.social
The President of the United States is calling for the mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois to be jailed.
maggiek.bsky.social
I love that this allows you to read Captain Ahab in the voice of The Dude.
mobydickatsea.bsky.social
“I fear not thy epidemic, man,” said Ahab
maggiek.bsky.social
Cornbread Harris is an American treasure.
maggiek.bsky.social
The Schooner just played the two best country songs humanly possible (i.e., Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox When I Die and I Like My Women Just a Little on the Trashy Side). They followed that up with Purple Rain. I already love it here.
maggiek.bsky.social
And then they all went and did drugs by the lake so the shaman cat, Mystikal Hedge Fund, could speak with the ancestors.
maggiek.bsky.social
Same. That sign is absolutely there for a reason.
maggiek.bsky.social
Also this happened, apparently.
maggiek.bsky.social
Also this explanation of how Mary learned to write again after she became blind was pretty cool. And a letter she wrote!
maggiek.bsky.social
This museum was a delight because it doubled as the county history museum and the overall effect was Minor Background Character Theater. Here’s the effects of Laura’s kindergarten teacher! Here’s the life history of her cousins who stuck around Wisconsin!
maggiek.bsky.social
So I went to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Pepin today. Major highlight: A real life pig bladder ball!
maggiek.bsky.social
Did you all know that some kids once found a whole ass mastodon just falling out of a hillside in Wisconsin?
maggiek.bsky.social
I should note that the store is called Crazy Frank’s Flea Market
maggiek.bsky.social
I regret to report that I’m now the mom who stops at flea markets in the middle of nowhere and texts her preteen to see if they want this amazing $25 phone desk and might just buy it even if I don’t hear anything back cause where else are you gonna get that kind of deal