Pollution Rising from Factories in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Magnetism Can Reveal Levels of Local Air Pollution

A chemical analysis of an area can find out how much pollution is in the air. But there's a much less expensive method that could help poorer communities.
Mariel Refugees

How Gay Marielitos Changed Immigration

In 1980, the policy of denying entry into the US based on homosexuality ran smack into anticommunism.
An autumn leaf on a branch

Will We Lose Fall Foliage to Climate Change?

The brilliant hues of autumn are created by a variety of factors that shift year by year. A warming planet is already one of them.
Six Children Killed in Regensburg, from Bavaria Sancta: The Life and Martyrdom of Holy Men and Women (Vol. III)

On the Origins of the Blood Libel

The ultimate conspiracy theory may be the charge of Jews killing Christian children.
A Star Wars artwork

Is Star Wars Cultural Appropriation?

Orientalism is alive and well in the wildly popular franchise, argues one scholar.
Walmart employee Clara Martinez stocks the shelves at a Walmart store on February 19, 2015 in Miami, Florida.

How Retail Sales Became “Unskilled” Work

There's a big difference between how salespeople in traditional department stores and big-box retailers interact with their customers.
Mary Rose Allen mid-leap

Teaching Black Women’s Self-Care during Jim Crow

Maryrose Reeves Allen founded a wellness program at Howard University in 1925 that emphasized the physical, mental, and spiritual health of Black women.
New York upper Eastside looking south flooded

New York City, Underwater

Climate change is transforming the Big Apple. How long will it be until America’s largest city is all but wiped off the map?
Oak tree

What Does a Tree See?

A hundred-year-old red oak in a Massachusetts forest told a writer and a team of scientists secrets about change over time.
A unmanned vehicle, part of the Multi-Utility Tactical Transport (MUTT) family of systems, 2017

Killer Robots, Mayan History, and Vampire Bats

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