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Great white shark
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Sharks Before and After "Jaws"

The blockbuster "Jaws" (1975) provoked fear by portraying sharks as "mindless eating machines." But what did people think of sharks before then?
Painting of an ornate urn
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How Cremation Lost Its Stigma

The pro-cremation movement of the nineteenth century battled religious tradition, not to mention the specter of mass graves during epidemics.
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How Fear of the Measles Vaccine Took Hold

We’re still dealing with the repercussions of a discredited 1998 study that sowed fear and skepticism about vaccines.

On America’s Wild West of Dinosaur Fossil Hunting

In 19th-century America, rare old bones were a resource like any other.
Ella Tyree from "Atom Scientists: Ten Negro Scientists at Argonne Lab Help in Race to Harness Atomic Materials”, Ebony magazine, September 1949, pp. 26-28. Copyright not renewed.
Exhibit

Scientific Americans

An exhibit about some of the ways that pursuits in the natural and physical sciences have helped Americans understand their world.

Book cover of the novel Trinity, depicting a man in a business suit casting a long shadow.

On Oppenheimer

A conversation with Louisa Hall about her novel, “Trinity.”
Image of a person being affected by chemical weapons.

Why We Don’t Use Chemical Weapons

World War I exposed the world to the horror of gas attacks. But why do we draw the line there when other methods of killing prove so much more effective?

Hysterical Cravings

How “pickles and ice cream” became the iconic “crazy” snack for pregnant women.

The Unwelcome Revival of ‘Race Science’

Its defenders claim to be standing up for uncomfortable truths, but race science is still as bogus as ever.
Woodpeckers

Sooty Feathers Tell the History of Pollution in American Cities

Preserved birds and digital photos help pinpoint levels of black carbon in the air and the changes that led to its decline.

Pop Culture Pulsar: Origin Story of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures Album Cover

The cover's design, a black-and-white data display, traces its origins to the stars.

An Enemy Until You Need a Friend

The role of "big government" in American history.

The Accidental, Psychedelic Discovery of LSD

After the drug was dismissed by the pharmaceutical company that developed it, a researcher started experimenting on himself with it. Powerful hallucinations ensued.
The media fueled fears of a parrot-fever pandemic; then the story went into reverse. Illustration by Laurent Cilluffo.

The Spread

Jill Lepore on disease outbreaks of pandemic proportions, media scares, and the parrot-fever panic of 1930.
Armand Minthorn
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Bones of Dispute

Who owns the past? That is the subject of debate after the discovery of a human skeleton on the banks of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington.

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