The OmegaCAM imager on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope has captured this glittering view of the stellar nursery called Sharpless 29. Many astronomical phenomena can be seen in this giant image, including cosmic dust and gas clouds that reflect, absorb, and re-emit the light of hot young stars within the nebula.

How the Universe Forges Stars from Cosmic Clouds

Adam Frank
A deep dive into the chaotic journey of star formation.
Peziza pseudoviolacea

The Vital Near-Magic of Fire-Eating Fungi

Anna Marija Helt
As wildfires grow in size and severity, researchers are learning more about the burn scar pioneers that are foundational to ecosystem recovery.
Republican troops of the International Brigades at the beginning of the Nationalist attack on the capital during the Spanish Civil War, Spain,1936

Growing Guerrilla Warfare

Matthew Wills
American resistance to the Nazis had its roots the skills of Spanish Civil War veterans, who were recruited by the OSS when they returned from Spain.
Sheep are seen while being transported in Fremantle Harbour on June 16, 2020 in Fremantle, Australia.

The Long History of Live Animal Export

Katrina Gulliver
The practice of live animal export from Australia is controversial and complex, and it has a longer history than you might realize.
Diachasmimorpha longicaudata

Wasp Viruses, Athleisure, and Humans in Flight

The Editors
Well-researched stories from Ars Technica, Big Think, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Relief from a wall of the northern palace of Nineveh, Iraq. 645-635 BC

Haunted Soldiers in Mesopotamia

Livia Gershon
In ancient Mesopotamia, many medical disorders were attributed to ghosts, including mental problems faced by men who had spent years at war.
LUANG PRABANG, LAOS - APRIL 09: The China-Laos Railway passes by a China Railway cargo shipment on April 09, 2024 in Luang Prabang, Laos. The China-Laos railway, a key project of China's Belt and Road Initiative, is a high-speed railway connecting Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province, to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. This railway is the biggest public infrastructure project ever undertaken by Laos, with a total length of 1,035 kilometers and a cost of US$5.9 billion, which is equivalent to around one-third of Laos' gross domestic product in 2019. The railway is dedicated to both passenger and freight traffic services, creating a new link between Laos and China, the former's neighbor and closest partner. The Laos section of the railway is part of a vision to build a Pan-Asia railway that will ultimately connect China, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, improving the efficiency of goods movement for export-driven economies along the route, opening up travel and extending China's influence deep into Southeast Asia. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Debt-Trap Diplomacy

Jamie Linsley-Parrish
How justified are recent claims that China has been buying significant quantities of debt to undermine the sovereignty of African nations?
Postal worker sorting letters and newspapers 1901

The Post Office and Privacy

Matthew Wills
We can thank the postal service for establishing the foundations of the American tradition of communications confidentiality

The British Empire’s Bid to Stamp Out “Chinese Slavery”

H.M.A. Leow
The mui tsai custom, which the British saw as a Chinese practice, relied on connections made across the multiracial landscape of colonial Malaya.
1936 map of The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Tramping Across the USSR (On One Leg)

Matthew Wills
Historian Sheila Fitzpatrick explores the limits of the Stalinist system through the biography of a marginal figure, one Anastasia Emelianovna Egorova.