In a piece published in the spring of 2020, epidemiologist Durland Fish explains that the connection between ticks and Lyme disease wasn’t understood until the 1970s. It wasn’t until decades later that scientists began to pick out clues about how the disease spread and became a modern epidemic.

The top five stories on our website this week are displayed below.

Hurricanes Katia, Irma and Jose on Sept. 8, 2017. NOAA

Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1 – here’s what forecasters are watching right now

To get a sense of how bad the 2021 hurricane season will be, keep an eye on the African monsoon, ocean temperatures and a possible late-blooming La Niña.

A red blood moon is caused by sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. U.S. Navy/Joshua Valcarcel/WikimediaCommons

Supermoon! Red blood lunar eclipse! It’s all happening at once, but what does that mean?

Shannon Schmoll, Michigan State University

In the early morning of May 26, 2021, there will be a super blood-red lunar eclipse. The show will be spectacular and can all be explained by the orbits of the Earth and Moon.

Making the series changed Barry Jenkins’ views on how his ancestors should be described and depicted. Atsushi Nishijima/Amazon Studios

‘The Underground Railroad’ attempts to upend viewers’ notions of what it meant to be enslaved

William Nash, Middlebury

Director Barry Jenkins' delicate dance with beauty and suffering seeks to create a fuller picture of the world Black Americans – then and now – inhabit.