While corporations usually get flack for contributing to deforestation, cell phone companies, on the other hand, are reforesting the built environment with fake, plastic trees. Californians and New Englanders be warned: These invasive species are popping up wherever there are palms and pines, the easiest arbors to copycat. Unfortunately they have yet to breed bonzai varieties.
Do these tree simulacra do anything to improve the aesthetics of a landscape? Or do they simply introduce more artifice into our daily lives?
Here's a selection of some of the best (or worst) cell phone tower trees. If you're into these photos, check out collections by photographers Emily Shur and Robert Voit, both of whom have managed to find a shocking amount of beauty in their shady subjects.
Thumbnail image (cc) by Flickr user Kevin Spencer
Rice grain and white rice.Image via 
Person eats rice.Image via 
Washing and rinsing rice. 
Mother and daughter eating rice meal.Image via 
Father talks with son.Image via 
Dad and son sit on the floor flexing muscles.Image via 
"Now I'm intrigued." 
Celebrate the wins.Image via 
Surprised and happy mother.Image via 
Problematic homework question
A student’s brilliant homework answer outsmarted her teacher's ridiculously sexist question
From an early age, children absorb societal norms—including gender stereotypes. But one sharp 8-year-old from Birmingham, England, challenged a sexist homework question designed to reinforce outdated ideas.
An English teacher created a word puzzle with clues containing “UR.” One prompt read “Hospital Lady,” expecting students to answer “nurse.”
While most did, Yasmine wrote “surgeon”—a perfectly valid answer. Her father, Robert Sutcliffe, shared the incident on X (formerly Twitter), revealing the teacher had scribbled “or nurse” beside Yasmine’s response, revealing the biased expectation.
For Yasmine, the answer was obvious: both her parents are surgeons. Her perspective proves how representation shapes ambition. If children only see women as nurses, they internalize limits. But when they witness diversity—like female surgeons—they envision broader possibilities.
As Rebecca Brand noted in The Guardian: “Their developing minds are that little bit more unquestioning about what they see and hear on their screens. What message are we giving those impressionable minds about women? And how might we be cutting the ambitions of little girls short before they've even had the chance to develop properly?”
X users praised Yasmine while critiquing the question. Such subtle conditioning reinforces stereotypes early. Research confirms this: a study found children as young as four associate jobs with gender, with girls choosing “feminine” roles (e.g., nursing) and boys opting for “masculine” ones (e.g., engineering).
Even preschoolers avoided careers misaligned with their gender, proving sexist conditioning begins startlingly young.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The problem spans globally. Data from 50 countries reveals that by age 15, girls disproportionately abandon math and science, while boys avoid caregiving fields like teaching and nursing. This segregation perpetuates stereotypes—women are underrepresented in STEM, and men in caregiving roles—creating a cycle that limits both genders.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
This article originally appeared last year.