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.
A chest depicting a king making an offering to the crocodile-god Sobek

Crocodiles in Ancient Egypt

According to archaeologists, it looks like worshipers of the croc deity Sobek bred the Nile's most famous reptile for mummification.
A man doing the dishes at home

An Effective Treatment for Diabetes? Try an Apartment

Subsidized housing promotes the kind of stability that makes it easier for people with type 2 diabetes to maintain their health.
A mother plays the guitar while her two daughters sing / Guitarist Joan Jett of the rock band "The Runaways" performs on stage in Los Angeles in August, 1977

At First, the Guitar Was a “Women’s Instrument”

The history of the guitar shows that musical instruments have been gendered—but just how changes over time.