Katie is a freelance writer living in the often underrated Midwestern gem that is Cincinnati, Ohio. She writes about everything from quirky animals to ancient spirits for HowStuffWorks and uses her copywriting chops to help businesses thrive. Katie tends to stay active — shooting hoops, hiking trails and exploring the city — but she slows down for her pretty serious obsession with ice cream and stand-up comedy. Throw in a hefty dose of puns, and she’s in heaven.
Recent Contributions
Smudging, or the creation of sacred smoke, for the purpose of cleansing energy and promoting healing and wisdom, has become increasingly popular, but what is it exactly?
Though they are far too hot to bathe in, with temps over 200 degrees Fahrenheit, the seven hells of Beppu are renowned for their colors — and for the crocs that inhabit one of them.
Pine martens are elusive and love to stay hidden in deep forests, but with strong claws, they are great climbers and hunters.
Advertisement
Belgium has become the first country in the world to revitalize their boring old government-issued passports with a comic strip design.
There are 126 species of birds that don't have the ability to fly, for various evolutionary reasons. Let's meet seven of them.
The adorable vaquita, the world's smallest porpoise and rarest marine mammal, has been pushed to virtual extinction by greed and fishing nets.
Pallas's cats appear cantankerous, in part due to their flat faces and large, owl-like eyes with round pupils.
Advertisement
Fermented from honey, yeast, water and gesho and served chilled in beaker-shaped bottles known as bereles, t’ej is Ethiopia's most popular drink and one of the oldest in the world.
Humpback whales can be as long as a city bus and weigh as much as two. They love to breach and water slap with their fins and tails, making them a perennial favorite for whale watchers.
The pistol shrimp is feared in the ocean for its ability to hit a prey with air bubbles that travel 82 feet per second, pop at 218 decibels and deliver 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit of heat.
The bane of every gardener's existence, weeds can easily and safely be controlled with non-toxic ingredients that you find around the house.
Advertisement
Two of the most commonly used tape products on the market are painter's tape and masking tape, but they shouldn't be used interchangeably. We'll explain why.
A smooth, South American brandy, Pisco is experiencing an American renaissance after centuries of popularity — and disputed history — in Peru and Chile.
Since its introduction in 15th-century Yemen, Turkish coffee has served as a cultural touchstone in Middle Eastern, Eastern European and north African countries, its brewing infused with magic and myth.
Carmine, a natural red dye also known as cochineal extract, is indeed made from the crushed bodies of the cochineal bug. And it provides the color for many of the foods we eat.
Advertisement
The lemon shark isn't as aggressive as some other sharks and it isn't quite as yellow as its name suggests.
This denizen of the frigid deep not only lives a crazy long life, it also can grow up to 24 feet in length and eating its flesh can make humans "shark drunk."
The Chicken of the Woods mushroom is jam-packed with protein and easy to spot with its bright orange color and ruffled edges.
Most species of the rarely seen anglerfish live up to a mile beneath the ocean, where the females lure prey with a head-dangling hook appendage and permanently fuse with male suitors. It doesn't get much stranger than that.
Advertisement
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act into law in 1968 to protect U.S. rivers for future generations. Here are seven fabulous rivers you should check out.
We see them in paintings of the day as a congregation of arthritic old men, drily deciding the terms of the new republic while complaining about their gout, when, in actuality, some of them were as young as 26.
While it often evokes the image of a gray-haired, old gentleman let off the hook because of his age, the intention behind the term "grandfathered" came from origins far more sinister.
Cute little balls of moss, called glacier mice, have been known to move up to an inch a day, all at the same time, like a herd of mice, but how and why?
Advertisement
Ashwagandha, sometimes called Indian ginseng or Indian winter cherry, is one of the most prized herbs in the Indian Ayurvedic science of life.
It's an age-old question. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck? Turns out, none at all. So what would a woodchuck chuck if it couldn't chuck wood?