Articles for author: Maria Faith Saligumba

Fossil Ice age

Vienna’s Ice Age Bones: What Lies Beneath the City of Music

Maria Faith Saligumba

What if I told you that the bustling heart of Vienna, with its glittering opera houses and cozy coffee shops, sits atop a world of long-lost giants? Beneath the cobblestones and subway tunnels, ancient bones slumber—remnants of creatures who once roamed a wild, icy landscape. Vienna’s streets hum with music, but underfoot, silent stories from ...

Sunlight streams into a dark cave with moss-covered walls in Smoljan, Bulgaria.

The Subterranean Biosphere: Life Thriving Miles Beneath Our Feet

Maria Faith Saligumba

Imagine a world where sunlight never reaches, where the pressure is crushing, and temperatures soar or plummet beyond what most life on Earth can bear. It’s a place that seems almost alien, hidden right beneath our feet. This is the subterranean biosphere—a vast, mysterious, and largely uncharted realm teeming with life forms that defy expectations. ...

Close-up of a computer monitor displaying cyber security data and code, indicative of system hacking or programming.

The Global Network That Tracks the Flu and Informs Your Local Vaccine

Maria Faith Saligumba

Imagine a world where a single sneeze in Tokyo could influence the medicine you receive in New York. Each year, as the leaves change and the chill creeps in, the flu makes its relentless return—ever adapting, always evolving. Behind the scenes, a vast international network of scientists, laboratories, and public health officials work tirelessly, racing ...

10 Real-Life Creatures That Inspired Mythical Monsters

10 Real Life Creatures That Inspired Mythical Monsters

Maria Faith Saligumba

Throughout history, humans have been fascinated by the mysterious and the unknown. This intrigue often gave rise to tales of mythical monsters that roamed the earth, sea, and sky. What many might not realize is that some of these legendary creatures were inspired by real-life animals. From the depths of the ocean to the vastness ...

Dense green ferns with mist in a tropical rainforest setting, creating a fresh and lush atmosphere.

Understory Medicine: What Amazon Plants Could Teach Modern Pharmaceuticals

Maria Faith Saligumba

Deep in the green heart of the Amazon, where sunlight barely kisses the forest floor, a silent pharmacy thrives. Hidden beneath towering canopies and shrouded in mist, the Amazon’s understory plants fight for survival with an arsenal of chemical secrets. For centuries, indigenous peoples have unlocked these mysteries, healing wounds, soothing fevers, and even warding ...

an aquarium filled with lots of different types of corals

Restoring Coral With Robots: The Technology Behind Mass Reef Recovery

Maria Faith Saligumba

Imagine plunging beneath the ocean’s surface to find a world once bursting with color, now faded and silent. Coral reefs—those vibrant underwater cities—are vanishing before our eyes, battered by rising temperatures, pollution, and relentless storms. But what if hope arrived not in the form of divers or scientists, but sleek, tireless underwater robots? Today, technology ...