WIKIMEDIA COMMONSManhattanhenge was a bust last month, ruined by rain-filled clouds. This beautiful alignment of the setting sun along the east-west grid of Manhattan’s numbered streets received its Stonehenge-derived moniker from the personable astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who knows how to get people excited about all things planetary.
I know we’re still deep in the heat of summer, but even so, the potential of seeing the sunset perfectly framed between New York’s skyscrapers reminded me that the sunsets will occur earlier and earlier each night as the days grow shorter. When this issue is published, on August 1, some 2 minutes of daylight are already gone since the June solstice.
Shortening days are a reminder that in the coming months dozens of species—from birds to sea turtles to monarch butterflies—will begin to migrate, some over thousands of kilometers, making a beeline to their favored overwintering sites. How do they pull off such incredible feats? In this issue’s cover story, “A Sense of Mystery,” Associate Editor Dan Cossins reports on the latest research into ...
