Rebecca E. Hirsch

All Stories by Rebecca E. Hirsch

  1. Plants

    Please do not touch the Australian stinging tree

    Stinging-tree leaves look soft and inviting, but one touch delivers agony. Structurally, the plant's painful chemical looks a lot like spider venom.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Many student athletes face risk of concussions that heal slowly

    High school girls and those with a history of concussions appear to take longest to recover.

  3. Chemistry

    New solution for carbon dioxide: Turn it into ‘green’ fuel

    Chemists have created a new way to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol. It might one day help remove excess CO2 — a greenhouse gas — from the air.

  4. Environment

    Pesticides contaminate most food of western U.S. monarchs

    Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweeds. A new study finds widespread pesticide use has tainted these plants across the insect’s western U.S. breeding grounds.