Two arms with tattoos

Why Does the Bible Forbid Tattoos?

And have we been misinterpreting Leviticus?
Two boys selling newspapers outside of a saloon

How Women Lost Status in Saloons

During World War I, anti-vice crusaders marked women who liked the nightlife as shady. You can tell by the way men started talking about them.
A collage of book covers

What We’re Reading in 2020

Funk music, floating cities, poetic prose, and a return to the classics.
An Ancient Roman latrine

Most Popular Stories of 2020

Crocodiles in Egypt, latrines in Rome, two timely syllabi, plus interviews with an epidemiologist and a theoretical physicist, were readers' favorites this year.
Members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union receive the flu shot in 1957

These Good News Medical Stories Got Us through 2020

The science of COVID-19 vaccines, the 1957 flu vaccine that controlled that outbreak, eradicating polio in India with oral vaccines, and more.
Der liebe Augustin erwacht in der Pestgrube by Adam Brenner

Best of Suggested Readings from 2020

Well-researched stories about the upside of public shaming, the octopus's sense of taste, and more from publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
An illustration of a man sneezing

You Don’t Get Colds from Being Cold

On the persistence of a folk belief.
Illustration: An illustration from the cover of Warm Worlds and Otherwise by James Tiptree, Jr.

Source: Ballantine

James Tiptree Jr. and Joanna Russ: Sci-Fi Pen Pals

The two feminist authors corresponded about writing and romance, especially after Tiptree's true identity leaked.
Actress Dorothy Tutin having an anti-flu injection, 1969

How Scientists Tried to Find a Universal Flu Vaccine

The quest to “conquer” influenza with a shot that could be used every year started out with high hopes, and ended up a hot mess.
A woman in Ireland makes a 'wren' from ribbons.

Wren Folklore and St. Stephen’s Day

The tiny winter songbirds are clever kings to the Irish. They're also fodder (literally) for post-Christmas ritual.