Adrienne Mason

Author bio

Adrienne Mason writes about science and history for both adults and children. Her most recent book, Long Beach Wild, explores the natural and cultural history of one of Canada’s most iconic beaches. She helped launch the science magazine, KNOW, and was its managing editor for six years. Photograph by Patrice Hansen

Articles by Adrienne Mason

Robert Higgins and Fernando Pardos at microscopes in Spain

Lord of the ’Rhynchs

There and back again: a taxonomist’s quest to reveal the world’s tiniest realms.

February 27th, 2018 | 3,700 words, about 19 minutes

The Foragin’ of Species

An unprecedented three-week scavenger hunt sets a baseline for marine biodiversity.

August 21st, 2017 | 1,500 words, about 7 minutes

Spineless Beauty

These tiny marine creatures are enormously photogenic.

August 21st, 2017 | 850 words, 18 photos

Life Interstitial

What does it take to live between the grains of sand?

April 28th, 2017 | Interactive infographic

Here Be Tiny Dragons (and Other Micro Beasts)

Researchers reveal the microscopic life in between the grains of sediment.

April 18th, 2017 | 5 min

This image is from Henry D. Butler’s 1858 book, The Family Aquarium, one of the first step-by-step guides to maintaining a home aquarium.

An Ocean in the Parlor

Home aquariums were the newest fad in the natural history-crazed Victorian era. Philip Henry Gosse wrote about it in the Atlantic Monthly.

March 24th, 2017 | 4,100 words, about 20 minutes

The Japanese Art of Sharing News

A mélange of art, news, and propaganda, woodblock prints spread the word on everything from tsunamis to the latest fashion.

October 24th, 2016 | 900 words, about 4 minutes

This collection of seven stamps is one of the most elaborate examples of carved stamps used by 19th-century whalers to record details of their voyage. The set includes a whale, a three-masted bark, a schooner, a whale’s flukes, an unidentified cetacean, a sunfish, and a coffin. Photo by Nelson Mare

Art and Accounting in the Age of Whaling

Hand-carved stamps helped whalers keep track of their catches and assess the success of their voyages.

August 8th, 2016 | 1,200 words, about 6 minutes

Where Dead Whales Go to Live

Take a peek behind the scenes at the Smithsonian Institution’s marine mammal warehouses.

May 2nd, 2016 | 3 min 30 sec

The Micro Monsters Beneath Your Beach Blanket

Little things live big lives between grains of sand.

March 21st, 2016 | 1,700 words, 8 photos

Out of This World: the Minnesota Seaside Station

More than a century ago, a group of students traveled from the American Midwest to Canada’s Pacific Coast to study seaweeds. Botanical Beach has been a unique outdoor classroom ever since.

January 25th, 2016 | 3 min 15 sec

How Ecosystems Got a Keystone

One day in 1963, ecologist Bob Paine started plucking sea stars off rocks and tossing them into the sea. His study helped show how a species may be small in number but significant in its impact.

November 6th, 2015 | 3 min 45 sec

Book Review: Rain

Since the first water fell and began to cool a fiery planet, rain has shaped our world. Writer Cynthia Barnett explores our relationship with rain.

July 17th, 2015 | 500 words, about 2 minutes

No Sea Stars = Mussel Beach

Researcher Monica Moritsch tracks changes in an intertidal neighborhood when its main predator is gone.

May 20th, 2015 | 3 min 15 sec

Dedicated teams of cavers are exploring and mapping lava tubes—caves through which lava once flowed—on the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos. Photo courtesy Aaron Addison

The Subterranean Cartographers

An intrepid team of scientists explores and maps the lava tubes of the Galapagos Islands.

May 4th, 2015 | 500 words, about 2 minutes

The Pirate Naturalist

Talented navigator, diligent observer, and bad-boy buccaneer, William Dampier may be the most accomplished travel writer and naturalist you’ve never heard of.

April 22nd, 2015 | 500 words, about 2 minutes

Hakai Magazine

Coastal science and societies