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Politics & Government

What Should We Do about Our Aging Prison Population?

Can compassionate release laws solve the problem of the nearly 200,000 people aged 55 and older who are incarcerated in America?

The Digital Voyage

An illustration of a tabloid magazine featuring Lord Byron

With Social Media, Everyone’s A Celebrity

Social media has made constant exposure a common experience. To learn how to deal with the attention, maybe we should look to the first celebrities.

Roundup

People wading in the water at the beach

Stories to Inspire Summer Fun

Some insights and tips to prepare for a summer of fun from JSTOR Daily.

Lingua Obscura

A person holding a newspaper on fire

How Language and Climate Connect

While we’re losing biological diversity, we’re also losing linguistic and cultural diversity at the same time. This is no coincidence.

Suggested Readings

A nuclear mushroom cloud

New Nukes, AI Researchers, and Women’s Soccer

Well-researched stories from Vice, Public Books, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Most Recent

A profile illustration of a child's head filled with science and education icons
Health

Big Brains Are Hard to Grow

Human brains take a long time, and a lot of energy, to grow to their mature state. This may well be an evolutionary tradeoff for having such big brains.
A person looking up into the night sky
Science & Technology

Will AI Restore Our Sense of Wonder?

According to philosopher Max Weber, science led to humanity's disenchantment. But reaching AI Singularity might spark our sense of wonder all over again.
Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David
Art & Art History

Napoleon Bonaparte’s Personal #Brand

Napoleon didn't like sitting for portraits, and yet artists and mass market prints helped cement his legendary status.
A woman looking out a train window into the sunset with vitamin d pills approaching
Quick Question

How Does the Body Make Vitamin D from Sunlight?

A Curious Reader asks: How exactly does exposure to sunlight cause the the human body to synthesize Vitamin D3?

More Stories

Trending

A giant squid
Plants & Animals

Why Deep-Sea Creatures Get Weirdly Giant

A giant squid sighting has us wondering all over again: how on earth do deep-sea creatures get so large?
Cover of May 1967 issue of The Phoenix, a gay publication available via the Independent Voices collection from Reveal Digital
Politics & History

I Could Spend All Day Looking at the Covers of These LGBTQ Publications

A treasure trove of queer publications from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s are now available through Reveal Digital’s open access collection "Independent Voices."
King (Kabaka) Mwanga from Buganda (1868-1903)
Politics & History

Anthropologists Hid African Same-Sex Relationships

Sex between people of the same gender has existed for millennia. But anthropologists in sub-Saharan Africa often ignored or distorted those relationships.

Long Reads

Buzz Aldrin and the U.S. Flag on the Moon
Natural Science

Should the Moon Landing Site Be a National Historic Landmark?

Some archaeologists argue it’s essential to preserve the history of lunar exploration. But would it represent a claim of U.S. sovereignty over the moon?
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Politics & Government

How Natural Black Hair at Work Became a Civil Rights Issue

On the 55th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, U.S. courts are still divided about African Americans’ right to wear their natural hair in the workplace.
Jeremy Irons in Steven Soderbergh's "Kafka."
Arts & Culture

Franz Kafka’s The Trial—It’s Funny Because It’s True

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
The first black marines decorated by the famed 2nd Marine Dvision somewhere in the Pacific. (Left to right) Staff Sgt Timerlate Kirven and Cpl. Samuel J. Love, Sr., received Purple Hearts for wounds received in the Battle of Saipan.
Politics & History

Who Were the Montford Point Marines?

Recruits in the first African-American Marine Corps trained at Montford Point, eventually ending the military’s longstanding policy of racial segregation.

Editors' Picks

Arts & Culture

“Stranger Things” and the Psychic Nosebleed

Where did we get the idea that using psychic or telekinetic powers makes a person's nose bleed?
Arts & Culture

How We Escape It: An Essay

Escape is an ancient word, escapism, a modern one, and the designation of a genre—“escape literature”—dates to the 1930s.
Politics & History

The Pirate Creed

Examining the 18th-century social contract of Captain Bartholomew Roberts and his men shows just how organized and codified pirate societies could be.
Interviews

Cornel West: Neoliberalism Has Failed Us

West speaks on Obama’s legacy, the failures of American empire, and the role of race in Trump’s election.
Business & Economics

What’s So Bad About A Monopoly?

Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods has drawn the ire of a new antitrust movement, which argues against the dangers of industry monopoly.

Arts & Culture

Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David

Napoleon Bonaparte’s Personal #Brand

Napoleon didn't like sitting for portraits, and yet artists and mass market prints helped cement his legendary status.
Hortense Powdermaker

When Hortense Powdermaker Studied Hollywood

This anthropologist's research on contemporary American society probes the tensions between business and art in the film world.
Erotic Confessions

Before the Internet, Cable TV Was for Porn

Although porn never became a big part of the cable TV business, it was central in debates over its regulation.

Columns

Rustam captures the King of Mâzandarân and takes him before the tent of Kay Kâ'ûs.

The Movable Tent Cities of the Ottoman Empire

The most lavish among them were festooned with colorful appliqué and brightened with gilded leather.
The Cast of Dave Malloy’s Octet. Photo by Joan Marcus

The Art of Digital Addiction

Digital addiction is inspiring plays, books, films, and art -- just as other forms of addiction have in the past.
A dad laughing at his own joke.

The Dubious Art of the Dad Joke

Is it really only dads who can tell dad jokes? And is this corny humor universal? Our linguist takes a deep dive.

Where did we get the idea that using psychic or telekinetic powers makes one’s nose bleed?

“Stranger Things” and the Psychic Nosebleed

Politics & Government

Source: Unsplash

How Natural Black Hair at Work Became a Civil Rights Issue

On the 55th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, U.S. courts are still divided about African Americans’ right to wear their natural hair in the workplace.
Mohamed Morsi in 2013

Why Did Ousted Egyptian President Morsi Lose Power?

Mohamed Morsi was elected president in 2012, in Egypt's first free elections. His death has put his brief presidency back in the spotlight.
Fifteen redacted pages of the Mueller Report

Are We Being Framed?

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

Sustainability & The Environment

The Shinkansen N700A Series Set G13 high speed train travelling at approximately 300 km/h through Himeji Station, Japan

Will the U.S. Ever Catch a High-Speed Train?

Over 20 countries have high-speed train travel, carrying 1.6 billion passengers a year. The United States is lagging behind.
The shadow of an airplane on a field

Will You Ever Fly in a Plane Propelled by Plants and Seeds?

Airlines have already flown planes fueled with biofuel-petroleum mixes, and more are coming.
Courtesy SeaDream

A Century After They First Appeared, Electric Boats Are Making a Comeback

In the late 1800s, electric boats were a promising new technology. They are now enjoying a revival.

Education

A classroom in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1944

Teaching Race at School

Shaken by Nazi propaganda, educators tried to teach anti-racist lessons in the 30s-40s. Their methods, however, would be considered very problematic today.
An elderly schoolma'am chastising a boy

When Teachers Stopped Beating Kids

Corporal punishment of students largely fell out of favor in the early 19th century. The preferred new system used prizes to encourage good behavior.
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.