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A Brief History of the Calorie
The measure of thermal energy expended by exercise was adapted from the study of explosives and engines.
by
Livia Gershon
,
Nick Cullather
via
JSTOR Daily
on
February 6, 2020
A Blinding History of the Laser Pointer
They can wreck your eyes, and they can land you 14 years in jail for shining one at a police chopper. But where did they come from?
by
Ian Lecklitner
via
MEL
on
August 20, 2019
The Unexpected History of the Air Conditioner
The invention was once received with chilly skepticism but has become a fixture of American life.
by
Haleema Shah
via
Smithsonian
on
June 24, 2019
partner
The Federal Government Subsidized the Carbon Economy. Now it Should Subsidize a Greener One.
Why the Green New Deal fits right in with America’s energy economy.
by
Ryan Driskell Tate
via
Made By History
on
April 26, 2019
Endless Combustion
Three new books examine how the rise of coal, oil, and gas have permanently remade our world.
by
Bill McKibben
via
The Nation
on
February 6, 2019
100 Years Later, the Madness of Daylight Saving Time Endures
Unfortunately, there’s not an unlimited amount of daylight that we can squeeze out of our clocks.
by
Michael Downing
via
The Conversation
on
March 9, 2018
The Jet Engine Is a Futuristic Technology Stuck in the Past
Rockets and turbofans have promised to realize dreams of transportation progress—for decades.
by
Christopher Schaberg
via
The Atlantic
on
February 11, 2018
Oil Barrels Aren't Real Anymore
Once a cask that held crude, the oil barrel is now mostly an economic concept.
by
Brian Jacobson
via
The Atlantic
on
September 8, 2017
partner
It’s Time to Ditch Coal, Not Clean It
In the 19th century, Americans abandoned one source of dirty energy. Can they do it again?
by
Raymond Malewitz
via
Made By History
on
July 26, 2017
Letter From a Drowned Canyon
The story of water in the West, climate change, and the birth of modern environmentalism lies at the bottom of Lake Powell.
by
Rebecca Solnit
via
The California Sunday Magazine
on
March 30, 2017
There Was Blood
The Ludlow massacre revisited.
by
Caleb Crain
via
The New Yorker
on
January 12, 2009
How Congress Planned To Solve The 1970s Energy Crisis
Representative Mo Udall's ambitious strategy to wean the United States off fossil fuels by the year 2000.
by
Morris K. Udall
via
The New Republic
on
June 16, 1973
When Big Oil Was "The Great Vampire Squid" Wrapped Around America
Robert Engler's award-winning 1955 investigation into the oil industry.
by
Robert Engler
via
The New Republic
on
August 29, 1955
Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
As an individual, Jimmy Carter stood as a rebuke to our venal and heartless political class. As a politician, his private virtues proved to be public vices.
by
Tim Barker
via
Origins of Our Time
on
January 1, 2025
We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It
Introducing “How the System Works,” a series on the hidden mechanisms that support modern life.
by
Charles C. Mann
via
The New Atlantis
on
December 9, 2024
How “The Great Gatsby” Changed the Landscape of New York City
On Robert Moses, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the culture of environmental waste.
by
John Marsh
via
Monthly Review
on
November 13, 2024
Noam Chomsky on How America Sanitizes the Horror of Its Wars
On the origins of America's hegemonic foreign policy.
by
Noam Chomsky
via
Literary Hub
on
October 16, 2024
How Air Conditioning Took Over the American Office
Before AC, office workers relied on building design to adapt to high temperatures. The promise of boosted productivity created a different kind of workplace.
by
David Dudley
via
CityLab
on
September 3, 2024
50 Years Later: Remembering How the Future Looked in 1974
A half-century ago, "Saturday Review" asked some of the era's visionaries for their predictions of what 2024 would look like. Here are their hits and misses.
by
David Cassel
via
The New Stack
on
August 24, 2024
The Energy Mascot that Electrified America
An animation historian on Reddy Kilowatt, the cartoon charged with electrifying everything in the early 20th century.
by
Mike Munsell
,
Kirsten Moana Thompson
via
Heatmap
on
August 5, 2024
Nonfiction That Rivals Little Women: The Forgotten Essays of Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott is best known for Little Women, but she earned her first taste of celebrity as an essayist.
by
Liz Rosenberg
via
Literary Hub
on
October 24, 2023
When Did Americans Start Using Fossil Fuel?
The nineteenth-century establishment of mid-Atlantic coal mines and canals gave America its first taste of abundant fossil fuel energy.
by
Livia Gershon
,
Christopher F. Jones
via
JSTOR Daily
on
October 11, 2023
A Profoundly Impactful Substance
"Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks – A Cool History of a Hot Commodity" reveals the history of frozen water and its impact on American life and culture.
by
Ian Macallen
,
Amy Brady
via
Chicago Review of Books
on
June 6, 2023
Growing New England's Cities
What can a visualization of population growth in cities and towns in the Northeast tell us about different moments in the region's economic geography?
by
Garrett Dash Nelson
via
Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center
on
March 17, 2023
Reconsidering Reparations
Reparations must be rooted in a political context that will safeguard rather than erode the gains they make towards justice.
by
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
via
LPE Project
on
February 21, 2023
How Historic Redlining Led to Extreme Heat in the Watts Community
The lack of investment in neighborhoods has resulted in communities of color living in areas far hotter than those of their white neighbors.
by
Bharat Venkat
via
Los Angeles Times
on
July 27, 2022
The Price of Oil
The history of control and decontrol in the oil market.
by
Gregory Brew
via
Phenomenal World
on
May 25, 2022
The People Who Hate People
Of all the objections NIMBYs raise to new housing and infrastructure, perhaps the most risible is that their community is already too crowded.
by
Jerusalem Demsas
via
The Atlantic
on
May 24, 2022
How Private Oil Companies Took Over U.S. Energy Security
And why it’s time to take it back.
by
Gregory Brew
via
Foreign Policy
on
May 16, 2022
The US Tried Permanent Daylight Saving Time in the '70s. People Hated It.
The number one complaint: Children had to go to school in the dark.
by
Andrew Beaujon
via
Washingtonian
on
March 15, 2022
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