person with blue shirt

Margherita Bassi

Contributor

About

In addition to Popular Science, her bylines include Smithsonian Magazine, Gizmodo, Discover Magazine, BBC Travel, Live Science, Interesting Engineering, Atlas Obscura, and more.

More from Margherita Bassi

fuzzy, orange-ish rodent in a person gloved hand
Animals

A baby porcupine is fluffier than you’d imagine

By Margherita Bassi

Side view of a two-seat, Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter fighter plane on an airfield during World War I, mid to late 1910s. (Photo by Interim Archives/Getty Images)
Aviation

Volunteers spent 25 years building a WWI replica plane. It just took flight.

By Margherita Bassi

a violinist poses with his violin next to a pond with turtles
Animals

Turtles gather for sweet sounds of violinist

By Margherita Bassi

white fava beans
Environment

Why fava beans taste gross (and how scientists want to fix them)

By Margherita Bassi

Photogrammetric reconstruction of the submarine USS F-1 on the seafloor west of San Diego, California.
Military

108-year-old submarine wreck seen in stunning detail in new footage

By Margherita Bassi

a turtle with a large hole in its shell
Animals

Turtle’s mysterious injury caused by a golf ball

By Margherita Bassi

a large American bullfrog in water with vegetation
Animals

This invasive frog can fit baby turtles inside its mouth

By Margherita Bassi

two birds with black and white plumage with dots of yellow or blue feathers neat their beaks sit near a nest
Animals

Male hornbills are at their mates’ every beck and call

By Margherita Bassi

a bird sits in several paper towels forming a circular donut-shaped nest
Animals

Why a ‘donut’ can help injured birds

By Margherita Bassi

a black and white snake with two heads
Animals

Rare two-headed snake is surprisingly thriving

By Margherita Bassi

thousands of birds take to the sky
Animals

Weather radar picks up over 1 million migrating birds

By Margherita Bassi