Museum of Science and Industry

It’s spring! Time to open the windows and see daffodils blooming and trees starting to blossom and bud, hear birds chirp, smell the dead fish in the air. Wait, what? Yeah, have you smelled that weird stink outside in the past week or two? Well, you have the lovely Bradford Pear tree to thank for it!

The Bradford Pear (or more generally, the Callery Pear) is a very pretty tree that

Hooray! It’s spring! It’s finally getting sunny outside! Happy dogs chasing balls! Long bike rides in the park! And of course, salesmen trying to get their hands on your hard-earned money. Because I'm sure any good salesperson already knows what recent research from Canada has found: when the sun comes out, our spending goes up.

It’s not just that we buy more, either. On a sunny day,...