iNaturalist and Crowdsourcing Natural History
The citizen-science app iNaturalist lets you record observations of plants and animals. The data can be used to study biodiversity.
Where Did the Term “Hispanic” Come From?
"Hispanic" as the name of an ethnicity is contested today. But the category arose from a political need for unity.
Fungi, Red Skies, and Simplistic Thinking
Well-researched stories from Catapult, Slate, and more great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
The Midcentury Women Who Played With Dollhouses
How to sell white, middle-class women on suburban domesticity after World War II? Tantalize them with dollhouse-like models of new cabinets.
Criminal Minds? Try Criminal Bodies
Cesare Lombroso wanted to use science to understand who criminals were. But his ideas about biological "atavism" easily transferred to eugenics and nativism.
Freshwater Fish of Virginia
Roanoke College's Ichthyological Collection of over 800 freshwater fish documents the biodiversity we're losing at an alarming rate.
A Century of Black Youth Activism
The history of the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights Movement is widely studied, but young Black Americans have been organizing for justice for much longer.
Wildfires and Climate Change
Scholarly research offers insight into the ways climate change and other factors are contributing to the wildfire crisis.
What Was Women’s Liberation?
The short-lived radical movement within feminism has gotten a bad reputation for centering white women's experiences. Is that deserved?
Hair, Gender, and Social Status in Ancient Egypt
Egyptian tomb chapels depict men, women, and children of different ranks in society. What can their hairstyles tell us about their lives?