Science

Looking back on 150 years of history shows that American women grappled with miscarriages amid different legal, medical, and racial norms.

Decades of biological research haven't improved diagnosis or treatment. We should look to society, not to the brain.

The history of humans being confounded by color photography.

When horses gallop, do all four hooves ever leave the ground at once? This episode of The Disappearing Spoon recounts the saga that led to the answer.

The breeding of race horses validated those aspiring to belong to an American elite while feeding into racist beliefs about genetic inheritance.

Before Julia Child became a chef, she worked for the forerunner of the CIA in Washington, developing shark repellent during World War II.

The long history of concerns about masculinity — and attempts to enhance it.

Smell’s diffuse nature requires crossing the boundaries of several subfields within the historical discipline, but also moving beyond the boundaries of history alone.

To renew Yosemite, California should embrace a once-outlawed Indigenous practice.

A new book by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Andrew S. Curran examines how 18th-century academics understood Black identity.

Researchers create massive genealogical network dating back 100,000 years

Thoreau's time at Walden Pond has provided substantial data for scientists monitoring the effects of a warming climate on the area's plant life.

Uptake of COVID vaccines for kids has been slow, but it has been slow for other vaccines too.

The Underground Railroad conductor's understanding of botany, wildlife biology, geography and astronomy allowed her to guide herself and others to safety.

Shibutani, Haruo Najima, and Tomika Shibutani reported that the vaccination lines stretched as long as 200 yards. “The conditions were atrocious.”

Combing across 19th-century shores, seaweed collectors would wander for hours, tucking specimens into pouches, before pasting their finds into artful albums.

The father of game theory helped develop the atom bomb—and thought he could calculate when to use it.

No matter the outcome of West Virginia v. EPA, the agency can take action to engage the public and make its data more accessible.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. came with censorship and obfuscation about the effects of the radiation on those who were exposed.

How a team of fearless American women overcame medical skepticism to stop whooping cough, a vicious infectious disease, and save countless lives.

The overlooked first mentor of Thomas Jefferson.

IBM’s chess-playing supercomputer Deep Blue was eclipsed by the neural-net revolution. Now, 25 years on, the machine may get the last laugh.

The history of the movement is one of unlikely success. But what can we learn from embattled experiments like prescribed heroin? 

An act of love in the form of a medicinal tonic.

Fewer fires are burning worldwide than at any time since antiquity. But in banishing fire from sight, we have made its dangers stranger and less predictable.

Hiding behind "academic freedom," E. O. Wilson actively propagated race pseudoscience in collusion with white supremacists.

How the rise of alternative, "natural," medicines led Americans to equate food with moral character.

Vaccine skepticism and misinformation have persisted since the smallpox epidemics. With the internet, it's only gotten worse.

What the autism diagnosis says about you.

The white pine known as Tree 103 had lost the dewy glow that it had back in 1675.