Cooking Thailand's most famous noodle dish, Pad thai in a small eatery in Kanchanaburi district. Phad thai consists of thin noodles lightly stir-fried with bean sprouts, sweet ground peanuts, and shrimp and is traditionally flash fried in a wok.

Inventing Pad Thai

A government campaign transformed a Chinese-inspired noodle dish into a symbol of Thailand's national identity.
A close-up shot of a patch of muddy earth, showing the texture and detail of the mud. The mud is grey and lumpy, with some areas that are more smooth and others that are more cracked and dry.

Why Mud Matters

The microbes in muddy sediments help regulate Earth’s climate and keep ecosystems functioning.
A colorized illustration of Darna, the main character of the comic book series created by Mars Ravelo in 1947.

The Folk Stories Behind the Philippines’ Superheroes

Filipino komiks have long drawn on mythology to create larger-than-life champions for ordinary people.
Colorized image from a poster for safe sex awareness

Reading for LGBTQ+ History Month

A collection of stories tracing how queer people have built communities, challenged norms, and preserved their histories.
Opened Durian Tropical Fruit on Green Colored Background.

Disgust, Desire, and Durian

How Southeast Asia’s famously pungent fruit became a source of cultural identity and global demand.
A colorized photograph of Ao Nagas tribespeople in Nagaland, India, ca. 1900

Can We Recover a Worldview Lost to Colonialism?

Among the Ao Naga of northeast India, humans may have been just one kind of person in a world filled with spiritual beings.
President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council regarding the crisis in Cuba, October 1962

Beware of the Meeting Minutes

What gets lost when spoken conversations become part of the historical record?
A photograph by Hugo Benioff of the fault scarp near Fairview Peak, Nevada resulting from a December 16, 1954 earthquake.

What Does an Earthquake Sound Like?

Seismologist Hugo Benioff spent decades turning seismic vibrations into signals he could study—and, eventually, hear.
Choice, pathway selection dilemma concept.

Teaching Students to Follow an Idea

A five-step classroom exercise reframes research as an evolving scholarly conversation rather than a search for sources.
Low counter circulation desk with three women.

Building a Library in Wartime Paris

Photos from the American Library in Paris reveal how librarians brought books to US troops during World War I.