Freeways in Los Angeles

The Permanent Crisis of Infrastructure

Ever since it entered public consciousness in the 1980s, infrastructure has been synonymous with decline.
Walter Rubusana

How Walter Rubusana Paved the Way for Nelson Mandela

Rubusana was the first Black politician elected to office in colonial South Africa.
James McCune Smith

For James McCune Smith, Racism Was All Over Anthropology

What if the creation story of anthropology isn't exclusively about white men classifying people as primitive?
Women's fashion catalogue images from the 1930s

The Back-to-School Shopping Tradition in History

As more women went to college, department stores catered to them by setting up pop-up "college shops" every September.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Venus, the Green Knight, and Old-School Peaches

Well-researched stories from Wired, Struggles from Below, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
An illustration of somebody using an inhaler

Asthma Tropes and the Kids Who Hate Them

Children with asthma respond to the movie executives who see them as weak people helped by magical inhalers.
Aerial View of Boreal Nature Forest in Summer, Quebec, Canada

Climate Change’s Dangerous Effects on the Boreal Forest

The forest's unique ecosystem protects the world's largest carbon sink—the Earth's permafrost layer. But for how much longer?
Businesspeople working and maintaining social distance on a sofa in a modern office

Here’s Why the CDC Recommends Indoor Masks for the Vaccinated

The CDC guidance applies to areas with high coronavirus transmission rates.
Damien Hooper of Australia listens to advice from his corner during the bout with Juan Carlos Carrillo of Colombia in the Boxing Men's Middle 75kg division on day 11 of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympics at the International Convention Centre on August 25, 2010 in Singapore

How Do Indigenous Athletes Fit into the Olympics?

Olympic athletes are divided into teams of nations. To Indigenous competitors, though, that can mean representing oppressive settler-colonial states.
Blind men working on boxes for Elizabeth Arden cosmetics at the Lighthouse, an institution for the blind in New York

How Blind Activists Fought for Blind Workers

The National Federation of the Blind was the first major group of its kind to be led by visually impaired people.