Samantha Burns

Executive Assistant, Staff Writer

A person created in the woods of Northern Vermont where the cows are plentiful and the people are sparse.

While pursuing a degree in Communications from Suffolk University, I spent most of my free time working in various retail and restaurant locations — developing a fascination for how people interact within their worlds. I had managed to fall deeply in love with denim, burritos, riding my bicycle, and putting my thoughts to paper before receiving my degree in January of 2016.

Now back in the beautiful state of Vermont, the bike is stowed away in the barn and I’m the proud new owner of a car payment. But I have come to learn that a place where gorgeous views, maple creemees, and locally made cheese are in abundance is never a bad place to be.

You can find me on Instagram @awhsam

7 minutes

[ Art ]

The Pieces of a Passion Project

By Samantha Burns

There’s something unexplainably relaxing about finding yourself lost in your craft, whatever that craft may be. Suska Matsik, a talented mosaic artist, describes her connection to her process in the most beautiful way.

Image: Abstract collage of a face rabbits and psychedelic patterns

5 minutes

This Device Turns Brain Waves Into Music!

By Samantha Burns

This isn’t like music you’ve heard before, in fact, it doesn’t even sound all that great. But, it CAN save lives by detecting seizures when there are no other symptoms present.

Image: A very close shot of the Axolotl's face!

7 minutes

The Axolotl Can Grow Back Its Limbs, What Can You Do?

By Samantha Burns

The insane regeneration abilities of the axolotl make it quite possibly one of the most interesting animals in the world. Whether regrowing limbs or hosting the body parts of their axolotl peers on their own frame, these creatures are incredible oddities of nature!

Image: A volcano in the distance with lush jungle in the foreground

20 minutes

[ Conservation & Sustainability ]

Costa Rica: A Country (Almost) Free of Fossil Fuels

By Samantha Burns

In 2017, Costa Rica went 300 days without using fossil fuels to generate their electricity! How did they pull this off? Monica Araya, the co-founder of Costa Rica Limpia gives us a look into how a decision in the 1940s set them up for success.

Image: Man pretending to talk to a sculpture of an old man sitting on a bench reading the newspaper

20 minutes

Here’s How to Talk to Strangers

By Samantha Burns

There are a lot of great people out there that you don’t know! If you’d like to change that, or at least make your introductions easier, here are a few tips.

Image: The messy back piece from Cayce Zvaglias series, Versos, of a woman.

9 minutes

[ Art ]

This Artist Shows Our Messy Side

By Samantha Burns

How much of yourself do you actually like to reveal to others?
This artist is able to uncover another side to the subjects of her portraits by using an unassuming material that we all have an experience with. This makes us ask, can these “messy” sides of ourselves actually be beautiful?

Image: Aerial view of the expansive Canyonland National Park

15 minutes

A History Carved in Canyon Walls

By Samantha Burns

It’s hard to find a place in the United States that holds as much human history as Canyonlands and the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. The ingenuity of the people who lived on this land centuries ago is literally carved into the stone!

Image: The nematodes in this photo have brains that are being used as part of new innovations in Artificial Intelligence.

5 minutes

This Robot has the Brain of a Worm

By Samantha Burns

The C. elegans is the first animal to have their connectome completely digitalized! Obviously, the next step would be to put this information into a robot. So let’s see this worm-bot in action and find out what this innovation could make possible for our future!

Image: Green wheat, with the sun rising behind it

8 minutes

[ Education Enrichment ]

So… Why Are Plants Green and Not Black?

By Samantha Burns

There are a LOT of plants out there and the majority of them seem to be wearing various shades of the same color. So, why is this?

Image: Person snowboarding

17 minutes

Did Snowboarding Actually Originate in Turkey?

By Samantha Burns

We think of the modern snowboard is a fairly recent innovation, but people in Turkey have been sliding down snow-covered hills on the petranboard for centuries!

Image: Woman reaching into the back of a washing machine

11 minutes

[ Conservation & Sustainability ]

This Washing Machine Uses Beads to Clean Your Clothes

By Samantha Burns

Xeros Technology has developed a new way of cleaning garments that will completely change how washing machines affect our planet (and our wallet!)

$Image: The natural fractals of an aloe plant$

15 minutes

When You Accidentally Become a Genius

By Samantha Burns

What if you woke up one day with a completely new skill set? What would your life be like? Today we look at the mysterious acquired savant syndrome!

Image: Colorful houses along the Greenland coast

5 minutes

What You Learn When the Sun Doesn’t Rise

By Samantha Burns

There’s a span of time every year in the arctic zone when the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon. What is it like to experience these polar nights? On this Saturday Around the World, we head to Greenland to explore.

Image:People sitting inside of cave next to colony of glow worms

11 minutes

Surprise! Those Are Worms, Not Stars

By Samantha Burns

Welcome to the luminescent ceiling of New Zealand’s Waitomo Caves. It may look like the lights of another solar system, but in reality, it’s home to thousands of wriggling carnivorous glow worms.

Image: View down long pillared hallway.

22 minutes

Could Holograms Change our History Records?

By Samantha Burns

In this exhibit, you can sit across from a holocaust survivor and ask them about their story. The thing is, these people aren’t really there! So, how does this work? And what is it like for them to know their experience is protected from time?

Image: Cano Cristales -- the rainbow river

4 minutes

Don’t Miss the Rainbow River

By Samantha Burns

For a short amount of time every year, the conditions in Colombia are perfect for a rainbow to bloom in the river, Caño Cristales.

Image: Man playing piano in the middle of a park

10 minutes

[ Art ]

Unleashing Creativity… A Simple Guide for All

By Samantha Burns

If you’ve ever tried to create something, you know the whole process can be quite frustrating. From finding that great idea to showing the final piece to someone, here are 3 short videos (from a few creative minds you may recognize) that can help us rethink how well we’re doing.

Image: Peregrine Falcon on a branch with wings stretched upwards

10 minutes

Meet the World’s Fastest Animal

By Samantha Burns

Turns out, we can team up with nature’s quickest creature to increase our productivity and reduce our impact on the environment! Without further ado, let’s make the introduction.

Image: Musician singing at a concert

14 minutes

Bringing Music Into the Visual World

By Samantha Burns

How do you bring the energy of a song to the audience when it’s interpreted into American Sign Language (ASL)? Amber Galloway Gallego is an innovator passionately working to not only interpret lyrics but the emotions and instruments that give them life.

Image: fruit flies on an orange

6 minutes

You Should Really Thank the Fruit Flies

By Samantha Burns

Would you believe that your genes are super similar to a fruit fly’s? They’ve been helping us discover our own bodies for years, here’s how…

Image: Path cutting through flower garden

15 minutes

[ Education Enrichment ]

When You (Really) Can’t Smell the Roses

By Samantha Burns

Your sense of smell is one of the most powerful and elusive of all the senses. But how does it even work? And what is it like when it doesn’t?

Image: Mount Bromo erupting at sunrise in Java

8 minutes

Life at the Base of a Volcano

By Samantha Burns

A vast majority of us don’t live anywhere close to a volcano — especially not an active one. Indonesia has the largest number of active volcanos in the world, so how do the residents handle the constant threat? What’s the appeal? Here’s a gorgeous film that may give us a hint.

Image: cave drawings

12 minutes

Embracing a Language that Brings Us Closer 🙂

By Samantha Burns

You’ve probably shared a few of these in your messages if you’ve communicated through technology in the past decade, but could emotion depicting icons have an even longer history than we assume? And where could these emojis bring the human race in the future? Jenna Schilstra discusses this on the TED stage.

Image: stump that looks like a toilet

10 minutes

What Do Bears, Frogs, and Gardening Have in Common?

By Samantha Burns

You may not expect urine to be the topic in an article about insight and innovation, but here we are. Today we discover how a few animals recycle their own to keep themselves healthy and the steps that we humans are taking to join the party!

Image: Decorator Crab blending in with their environment

10 minutes

Dressed for Survival

By Samantha Burns

To avoid being eaten, decorator crabs have developed quite the unique ability to disguise themselves! Discover how they do this, and then stay tuned for a final, very flashy, guest crab.

Image: Silhouette of a skier on a mountain

36 minutes

[ Happiness & Hope ]

Rewriting Stories on Mountainsides

By Samantha Burns

We typically don’t want to go back to a place we had a terrible experience. But what if we did? Here’s the story of three U.S. Army Captains returning to Iraq for the first time since combat to experience something completely different.

15 minutes

[ Conservation & Sustainability ]

Humanizing What’s Under the Surface

By Samantha Burns

It can be difficult to feel a connection to something when it isn’t a part of your day to day life. But what if it could be? There are people throughout the world creating ways for us to have a closer look at what’s happening under the water, so here’s two of them. Artist, Katrina Fuller, will bring the ocean to us, while innovator, David Lang, brings us into those waters!

17 minutes

[ Art ]

Plus 1: Making a Difference with What You Have

By Samantha Burns

Seeing the need and opportunity for the music industry to be a more positive force in the world, Marika Shaw and her bandmates came up with Plus 1, an organization that has changed the way the music industry and non-profits can work together.

Image: Aaron in his wheelchair hand planting on rail.

15 minutes

[ Happiness & Hope ]

Flipping Perceptions

By Samantha Burns

How do you react when someone tells you you’re incapable of doing something? For a lot of us, there are usually two routes we take: agree and shrink, or prove those words wrong. WCMX athlete, Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham, chose the latter and has spent years creating history and crushing stereotypes. Here’s his story…

“

"Waking up each morning in Cairo Egypt to read your uplifting and interesting messages has really been a gift..."

~ Samia Z.

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[ Happiness & Hope ]

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