Science

Resiliency and the ability to develop coping mechanisms may define our times.

Decade by decade, firearms have become deadlier—and tightened their grip on our collective imagination.

Poplar—ubiquitous in timber, landscape design, and Indigenous medicines—holds new promise in recuperating damaged ecosystems.

Scientists have found toxic levels of the chemical at large. And some groups are making the case to produce even more.

On Annie Payson Call’s advice to tired nineteenth-century workers.

New understandings of how disease spread informed Imogene Rechtin's ill-fated 1910 campaign to ban a universal human practice.

An 1860 census record offers a glimpse into the choices available to pregnant women who were enslaved.

Of all the objections NIMBYs raise to new housing and infrastructure, perhaps the most risible is that their community is already too crowded.

For decades, consumers were duped into believing that a fat-free food label would put them on track for weight loss, when the complete opposite was true.

On the women who kickstarted the ecological restoration movement in America.

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.