Armistice Day celebration with a large crowd of people

People Gave Up on Flu Pandemic Measures a Century Ago When They Tired of Them – And Paid a Price

At the first hint the virus was receding, people pushed to get life back to normal. Unfortunately another surge of the disease followed.
Black-and-white photograph of Louis Agassiz sitting in chair, looking through a magnifying glass at a sea urchin.

Louis Agassiz, Under a Microscope

The two prevailing historical visions of Louis Agassiz — one gentle and reverential, the other rigid and bigoted — may simply be two sides of the same coin.
profile illustration of human nervous system against black background

The Mystery of ‘Harriet Cole’

Whose body was harvested to create a spectacular anatomical specimen, and did that person know they would be on display more than a century later?
African-American child with polio
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Racial Health Disparities Didn’t Start With Covid: The Overlooked History of Polio

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted racial disparities with roots in the past.
Cartoon of babies in petrie dishes.

A Long Incubation

It took hundreds of years of research to develop in-vitro fertilization or IVF.
Image of plastic human figurine hunched over at a desk and computer.

How the Personal Computer Broke the Human Body

Decades before 'Zoom fatigue' broke our spirits, the so-called computer revolution brought with it a world of pain previously unknown to humankind.
Cotton Mather.

The Hellfire Preacher Who Promoted Inoculation

Three hundred years ago, Cotton Mather starred in a debate about treating smallpox that tore Boston apart.
Richard Allen (above) and Absalom Jones' "A Refutation". book cover

How the Politics of Race Played Out During the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic

Free blacks cared for those infected with yellow fever even as their own lives were imperiled.
Illustrated 18th century man with hands on him

The Fever That Struck New York

The front lines of a terrible epidemic, through the eyes of a young doctor profoundly touched by tragedy.
Illustration of James McCune Smith, the African Free School #2, and the University of Glasgow

America's First Black Physician Sought to Heal a Nation's Persistent Illness

An activist, writer, doctor and intellectual, James McCune Smith, born enslaved, directed his talents to the eradication of slavery.
Drawing of a toppled statue head among grass, with a white bird

What Do We Do About John James Audubon?

The founding father of American birding soared on the wings of white privilege. How should the birding community grapple with this racist legacy?
Syringes with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on a table
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Having Vaccines Alone Isn’t Enough to Defeat Covid-19

Distributing them equally is key to defeating the coronavirus.
Illustration of a Lancasterian school building

A History of Technological Hype

When it comes to education technology, school leaders have often leaped before they looked.
Water contaminated with arsenic, lead and zinc flows from a pipe out of the Lee Mountain mine and into a holding pond
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Spin Doctors Have Shaped the Environmentalism Debate for Decades

“Green” public relations work has flown below the radar but made a huge impact.
Subject in sensory deprivation in 1957 isolation study

American Solitude

Notes toward a history of isolation.
Bathroom scales

The Completely Bonkers History of the Bathroom Scale

A century ago, few Americans had any idea how much they weighed. Here’s why that changed so dramatically.
The ocean

Chemical Warfare’s Home Front

Since World War I we’ve been solving problems with dangerous chemicals that introduce new problems.
Illustration of phrenologiy models

Phrenology Is Here to Stay

“Pseudoscience,” race, and American politics.
Posters reading "Is your child vaccinated? Vaccination prevents smallpox"

The Smallpox-Fighting “Virus Squads” That Stormed Tenements in the Middle of the Night

In the 1800s, they helped lay the groundwork for the anti-vaccine movement.
a artistic human face photo

Bring Back the Nervous Breakdown

It used to be okay to admit that the world had simply become too much.
Skiers queuing to get on The Dollar lift.

How a Railroad Engineer From Nebraska Invented the World's First Ski Chairlift

The device was part of an elaborate plan on behalf of Union Pacific to boost passenger rail travel in the American West.
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We’re Catching More Diseases From Wild Animals, and It’s Our Fault.

Scientists explain how viruses, like Covid-19, spill over from animals to people, and what we must do to stop the next pandemic.
A painted picture of someone receiving a vaccine

History Shows Americans Have Always Been Wary of Vaccines

Even so, many diseases have been tamed. Will Covid-19 be next?
COVID-19 dashboard
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Covid-19 Dashboards Are Vital, Yet Flawed, Sources of Public Information

Unlike our car dashboards, covid-19 dashboards do not give individuals actionable information.
A hand holding a stethoscope and knife.

The Blackwell Sisters and the Harrowing History of Modern Medicine

A new biography of the pioneering doctors shows why “first” can be a tricky designation.
Louise Hay

Another Hayride

Self-help guru Louise Hay’s “Hayrides” drew in thousands during the hopelessness and government neglect of the AIDS crisis.
Children receiving a vaccine.

Throughout History, Mass Vaccine Rollouts Have Been Beset by Problems

As the country scrambles to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, the process has been hindered by many of the same issues that impeded other mass vaccination rollouts.
Statue of Mary Seacole by Martin Jennings in front of St Thomas' Hospital, London.

African Americans, Slavery, and Nursing in the US South

Following backlash to the construction of a statue for Mary Seacole, Knight describes the connection between nursing and slavery in the US South.
A man hooked up to receive shocks as part of the Milgram experiment

The Hidden Meaning of a Notorious Experiment

In Stanley Milgram's studies of obedience, people believed they were giving shocks to others. But did their compliance say much about the Nazis?
Artwork that says "Bury me fiercely" and features imagery of a face mask and cross

You Are Witness to a Crime

In ACT UP, belonging was not conferred by blood. Care was offered when you joined others on the street with the intent to bring the AIDS crisis to an end.