An illustration of a silhouette of obese person losing weight with measuring tape

Weight Discrimination Is a Health Problem

The perception of weight discrimination shapes both people’s experience of their own weight status and their disability outcomes.
Still Life with Rabbit by Johann Amandus Wink

Vegetarian Heretics and the Christian Church

Since the religion’s early days, Christian thinkers have treated vegetarianism sometimes as heretical, sometimes as evidence of saintly asceticism.
Wild timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) on train tacks at sunrise, Florida

Actual American Rattlesnakes

Historians are recovering the overlooked history of North America’s Crotalus horridus, the timber rattlesnake.
A dog in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, Mongolia

The Sacred and Profane Dogs of Mongolia

In Mongolia, dogs are close companions to humans and a key part of a cosmology with Buddhist and shamanic influences. But they’re also seen as unclean.
The cover of the play Abbu San in Old Japan

Blackface on Stage in “Old Japan”

The use of blackface may seem out of place in a Japanese-inspired stage production—until you think about the money to be made by dealing in stereotypes.
President Truman addresses the closing session of the 38th annual conference of the NAACP at Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C., 1947

Why Did Truman Support Civil Rights?

Truman’s domestic agenda attempted to solve the problem of Black American oppression while undermining the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Detail of The Story of the Florentine Antonio Rinaldeschi, dated 1501/2

Tavolette: Paintings to Comfort the Condemned

Charged with saving the immortal souls of the condemned, comforters held tavolette showing the Crucifixion in front of the eyes of those facing execution.
Two broad wedges made of thousands of tiny dots in colorful bands on a black background.

Shifting Forces: The Evolving Debate Around Dark Energy

New evidence suggests the universe might not behave as expected, raising questions about the costs of being wrong.
Plate Number 191. Dancing (fancy) by Eadweard Muybridge, 1887

The Intersection of Dance and Science

Lynn Matluck Brooks dives into the ever-evolving relationship between movement and technology.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Racknitz_-_The_Turk_1.jpg

Before Deep Blue: the Automaton Chess Player

You may have heard of IBM’s chess-playing computer, but Johann Nepomuk Maelzel’s Automaton Chess Player beat Deep Blue to the (mechanical) punch. Check mate.