1885-86 Cuban Giants

Integrating Baseball, before Jackie Robinson

Black players were banned from Major League Baseball during the Jim Crow era. Other players walked the color line—gently.
Psilocybe Cubensis

The Nice Married Couple Who Inspired People to ’Shroom

In the 1950s, Gordon and Valentina Wasson encountered magic mushrooms. Then they wouldn't stop talking about them.
A fox on a city street

City Wildlife, Social Mitochondria, and Consumer Identity

Well-researched stories from Quanta, Scientific American, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Photograph: Miss Beryl Goode, the well-known golfer, at her wedding to Mr W. J. G. Purnell, July 1913. 

Source: Getty

When Statutory Rape Laws Led to Forced Marriages

In early 20th-century New York, men accused of "ruining" women under eighteen could avoid prosecution by marrying them.
Closeup of the edge of open book pages

The Theory Journal: Still Trendy after All These Years?

A wave of academic periodicals devoted to theory started appearing in the 1970s. Criticism wasn't far behind.
Art from underground publication

How Women Fought Misogyny in the Underground Press

Men dominated the underground papers of the 1960s. Feminist journalists like Robin Morgan and Sheila Ryan called them on their sexism.
Photograph: Female fans of Frank Sinatra gaze adoringly at a picture of him in a copy of Modern Screen magazine, c. 1950

Source: Getty

How Teenage Girls Invented Fandom

They were mocked for their obsession with movies. But the fan culture they constructed help build Hollywood.
An advertisement for Burdock Blood Bitters

The Bitter Truth About Bitters

A bottle of bitters from about 1918 had significant amounts of alcohol and lead—and not a trace of the supposed active ingredient.
Sangers Circus Performers

Vintage Circus Photos from the Sanger Circus Collection

In Victorian England, the circus appealed across an otherwise class-divided society, its audiences ranging from poor peddlers to prestigious public figures.
Olive groves, vineyards and farms on rolling hills of Abruzzo. Italy

Soil Health Can Positively Affect Farm Revenue

In a case study from Italy, researchers found that biodiverse soil had good economic results for farms.