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Mathematics

The Quantum Random Number Generator

It’s real. And it will use quantum entanglement to generate true mathematical randomness. Here’s why that matters.

The Digital Voyage

An iPhone with an App Store Icon

It’s Time to Break Up the Apple App Store

Apple's stranglehold on the App Store is problematic. Our technology columnist explains why.

Quick Question

A woman with a protective mask in a plane

Do Airplanes Really Make You Sick?

A Curious Reader asks: Am I really at a higher risk of getting sick on an airplane?

Lingua Obscura

Fifteen redacted pages of the Mueller Report

Are We Being Framed?

How the linguistic trick of framing shapes meaning--and can lead to deception.

Suggested Readings

A Diffusion MRI, also referred to as diffusion tensor imaging or DTI, of the human brain

Inception Machines, Weird Ice, and a Post-Roe World

Well-researched stories from Quanta, Wired, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Most Recent

Sir Charles Knowles, an officer of the Royal Navy
Politics & History

Colonialism Created Navy Blue

The indigo dye that created the Royal Navy's signature uniform color was only possible because of imperialism and slavery.
A land snail
Plants & Animals

The Hidden Extinction Crisis

The extinction crisis might be even worse than we think, because we tend to mostly pay attention to terrestrial vertebrates.
An illustration of Mormon leader James Strang speaking with a Mormon woman
Education & Society

When Adventists and Mormons Turned Sex-Positive

How the once sex-averse Church of Latter-Day Saints and Seventh Day Adventism embraced (married, monogamous) sex as a positive ideal.
A group of business people chasing a dollar on a string
Business & Economics

When Big Rewards Don’t Pay Off

One would think that offering potentially big rewards would inspire workers to create better work. A study found a more complicated picture.

More Stories

Trending

Mathematics

The Quantum Random Number Generator

It’s real. And it will use quantum entanglement to generate true mathematical randomness. Here’s why that matters.
George Orwell
Arts & Culture

Think Again

Rereading W.H. Auden, George Orwell, and James Baldwin in times of crisis.
A hand holding a magnifying glass looking at pages with different fonts
Arts & Culture

The Font Detectives

For typography experts like Thomas Phinney, the history of the printed word is crucial to weeding out fraud.

Long Reads

Raking rice paddies in China with an ox-drawn plough. Engraving by J. June after A. Heckel.
Science & Technology

Chinese Peasants Taught the USDA to Farm Organically in 1909

A hundred years later, we are still learning.
A hand holding a magnifying glass looking at pages with different fonts
Arts & Culture

The Font Detectives

For typography experts like Thomas Phinney, the history of the printed word is crucial to weeding out fraud.
Rossia macrosoma, Stout Bobtail Squid
Art & Art History

The Delicate Science-Art of the Blaschka Invertebrate Collection

The Cornell Collection of Blaschka Invertebrate Models includes hundreds of glass models of sea creatures, making it both a teaching tool and a metaphor.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan in The Great Gatsby, 2013
Arts & Culture

What The Great Gatsby Reveals About The Jazz Age

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel embraced jazz, while also falling prey to the racist caricatures associated with it.

Editors' Picks

Education & Society

How Barbecue Defined America

The barbecue boom in 1950s American was tied to nationalistic concepts of the "perfect family": patriarchal, suburban, and white.
Education & Society

Why Our Work Affects How Kids Play

The way we think about the skills kids need—and even how they should play—is deeply tied to the characteristics we expect them to need as adults.
Business & Economics

Will We Always Have the Poor Among Us?

To end poverty, public policy must provide much more than economic resources
Science & Technology

Who Chooses Not to Vaccinate Their Children?

Vaccinations have always been political. But in this day and age, why do certain subsets of well-off parents choose not to vaccinate their children?
Science & Technology

Shark Attacks: A History of Hype

A history of shark attacks and public response to them.

Arts & Culture

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Life of Forgotten Poet Letitia Elizabeth Landon

She was known as the "female Byron." So why doesn't anyone read L.E.L. anymore?
George Orwell

Think Again

Rereading W.H. Auden, George Orwell, and James Baldwin in times of crisis.
Frank Capra, 1937

Frank Capra’s Not-So-Sunny Vision of American Life

Capra's films are known for being upbeat and sometimes cheesy, but beneath the surface are rather dark stories of American corruption.

Columns

Allegorical Groups Representing the Four Continents: America by Francesco Bertos

These Gravity-Defying Sculptures Provoked Accusations of Demonic Possession

Demons and artists, it seems, pull from the same bag of tricks. They take ordinary matter and transform it into something more wondrous, more terrifying.
A physician administers leeches to a patient. Colour reproduction of a lithograph by F-S. Delpech after L. Boilly, 1827.

Why Did the Victorians Harbor Warm Feelings for Leeches?

Medical authorities wrote about leeches as if they sucked blood out of the goodness of their hearts.
A power button filled with green leaves in front of a dark background.

The 4 Questions to Ask before You Unplug

If you're concerned about the internet's effects on the world and on yourself, unplugging might not be the answer.

Barbecue fit in with the Cold War-era emphasis on consumerism, particularly home ownership.

How Barbecue Defined America

Politics & Government

A person saving a parking spot by laying down on the concrete.

When Did We Start Paying to Park Our Cars?

A Curious Reader asks: When and why did parking become monetized?
Kessab, a town in Syria on the border of Turkey

Turkey’s “Outsider” Threats

Ever since it was founded as a republic in 1923, Turkey has struggled with its so-called Kurdish issue.
Omar al-Bashir

Sudan’s Revolution and the Geopolitics of Human Rights

Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and genocide. Why isn't he on trial?

Sustainability & The Environment

Raking rice paddies in China with an ox-drawn plough. Engraving by J. June after A. Heckel.

Chinese Peasants Taught the USDA to Farm Organically in 1909

A hundred years later, we are still learning.
A large tree with moss-covered roots.

How Trees Can Save Lakes From Algae Blooms

In addition to cleaning air pollution, trees absorb excess nutrients from soil, preventing algae blooms in waterways.
Two IAEA experts examine recovery work on top of Unit 4 of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

How to Clean Up After a Nuclear Disaster

Workers are still cleaning up after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant partial meltdown. There's a lot of contaminated material to contend with.

Education

A person's hand drawing a Big Mac hamburger on a sheet of lined paper

Are Students Just Telling Us What We Want to Hear?

Students tend to fill out end-of-year evaluations so as to describe a “narrative of progress.” For teachers, this is fast food of the mind.
Charles Drew sitting with medical residents at Freedmen's Hospital

The 1910 Report That Disadvantaged Minority Doctors

A century ago, the Flexner Report led to the closure of 75% of U.S. medical schools. It still explains a lot about today’s unequal access to healthcare.
Two students using text analyzer

How to Teach with JSTOR Text Analyzer

JSTOR Text Analyzer provides students with an additional resource for finding scholarly material.