A historical marker for the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster

Remembering the Disaster at Hawks Nest

Hundreds of miners, mostly African American men, died from an entirely preventable industrial catastrophe.
Members of the Japanese Independent Congregational Church attend Easter services in Oakland, California, 1942

Who Helped Japanese Americans after Internment?

Resettlement was difficult and traumatic, but the religious community worked to provide housing, food, and job opportunities.
Aurora Borealis by Frederic Edwin Church overlaid with The Battle of Culloden by David Morier

When the English Witnessed Battles in the Sky

Some claimed the battles were so fierce they could smell the gunpowder.
Execution of Louis XVI, 1793

The Decapitation Experiments of Jean César Legallois

This French scientist conducted a series of gruesome experiments in his quest to discover the true limits of life and death.
Stacked products in open fridge

Food and Class: What’s in the Fridge?

A recent New York Times quiz got us thinking about refrigerators, food, diet, and assumptions about class. Here are 12 stories on the subject.
A healthcare worker reassures a patient during a home visit

COVID-19 Causes Some Patients’ Immune Systems to Attack Their Own Bodies

Severe infection is linked with autoantibody production.
Little brown bat

What Bats Can Teach Humans About Coronavirus Immunity

Bats have a unique genetic ability to tolerate many viral infections. Can humans uncover their secrets?
Cat with its hair standing up

Nine Black Cat Stickers

They crossed our path and we lived to tell the tale. Check them out in the Street Arts Graphics Collection!
Diabolical Ironclad Beetle

Beetles, Bois, and the President’s Lips

Well-researched stories from BBC News, Slate, and other publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Visitors walk past the entrance gate to the Auschwitz death camp, the most notorious of the many Nazi concentration camps

Does Dark Tourism Exploit Tragedy for Profit?

Thanatourism, as one scholar calls it, has a long history. And some historic sites of mass death do offer thoughtful educational experiences.