November 2026: Science history from 50, 100 and 150 years ago

Scientific American · Jeanna Bryner · 2026-10-20 10:00 UTC

In 1926 we wrote about how there was a good chance Mars had both plants and animals. And in 1876 we probed the duplicity of the artificial butter business

What was SciAm writing about 50, 100 and 150 years ago? Life on Mars and justice for crabs

In 1926 we wrote about how there was a good chance Mars had both plants and animals. And in 1876 we probed the duplicity of the artificial butter business

“How can trees survive in an urban environment? The human artifacts we call cities first appeared less than 10,000 years ago. The ancestors of today’s trees are some 20,000 times older than the oldest cities. As trees have been exposed to more than 100 million years of selective pressure to adapt to natural environments, it borders on the biologically miraculous that any tree can occupy an environmental niche as hostile as a city street.

Read the full story at Scientific American · All coverage of this story