How (Not) to Teach Kids about Native Cultures
Even well-intentioned books for children can romanticize (or demonize) Native Americans. But better materials exist.
Tea Parties for Temperance!
Behind the Victorian movement to replace tippling alcohol with a very British ritual.
Rare 1969 Story from The Queen’s Gambit Author Walter Tevis
In this short story a graduate student makes a deal with the devil: Write my dissertation and my soul is yours.
Socialism: Foundations and Key Concepts
What is the political, philosophic, and economic system known as socialism? Some starting points for further study.
Hollywood’s Version of “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”
Ernest Hemingway didn’t care for it.
Our Long-Running Love Affair with Pigeons
Through crazes of pigeon-fancying, these birds have been reshaped into a dizzying variety of forms.
In Phytoremediation, Plants Extract Toxins from Soils
Researchers have a cheap, easy way for cleaning up oil spills: letting plants do the work. Why isn’t it used more often?
The Bizarre Theories of the American School of Evolution
The paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope condemned women's suffrage and Black Americans through an evolutionary lens.
How Yellowstone Extremophile Bacteria Helped With Covid-19 Testing
The heat-resistant enzyme from Thermus aquaticus is used in PCR testing to detect pathogens.
Smelly Science, Long Lives, and Queen Calafia
Well-researched stories from NPR, Aeon, and other publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.