Few foods elicit such strong reactions as chili peppers. Why do we love something that hurts so much?

Bach’s most influential pedagogical work turns 300 this year. But what’s so “well-tempered” about this clavier, and what’s a “clavier,” anyway?

The Town of Boston’s invention of the standing committee 250 years ago provided a means for building consensus during America’s nascent independence movement.

Formerly incarcerated people comprise the largest group of disenfranchised American voters. The American Prison Newspapers collection offers fresh insight into the issue.

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

Despite royal prohibition, transmutation efforts continued underground long after the widely accepted dates for their demise.

The first feature-length zombie movie emerged from Haitians’ longstanding association of the living dead with slavery and exploited labor.

Telling a spooky story around a campfire—or in a dorm room—may be the best way to keep a local legend alive.

Psychical researcher Harry Price combined the power of academic language with a cultural identity crisis to build a reputation as a “scientific” ghost-hunter.

In its plans for the conquest of Eastern Europe, the Third Reich looked to the example set in Africa by Fascist Italy.