A Recipe for Ancient Wildfires
The earliest wildfires raged long before humans, and they only needed three ingredients to get started.
How Hollywood Sold Glamour
The complicated notion of glamour in classic Hollywood, suggesting that stars were aloof and unknowable, was also a means to sell products.
The Red Scare and Women in Government
In 1952, a government administrator named Mary Dublin Keyserling was accused of being a communist. The attack on her was also an attack on feminism.
What Do Sugar Skulls Mean on El Día de los Muertos?
The iconography of Mexico's Día de los Muertos has become wildly popular outside Latino communities. But where did the skulls and skeletons come from?
How Aztecs Reacted to Colonial Epidemics
Colonial exploitation made the indigenous Aztec people disproportionately vulnerable to epidemics. Indigenous accounts show their perspective.
Plant of the Month: Dittany
Did women in the premodern world have much agency over reproduction? Their use of plants like dittany suggests that they did.
The Brooklyn College Farm Labor Project of the 1940s
The coronavirus pandemic left farmers falling back on students to pick crops. But it certainly wasn’t the first time.
Breathing Machines, New Fires, and Life on Venus
Well-researched stories from Aeon, Yale 360, and more great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Class and Choice in “Mommy Track” Jobs
During a childcare crisis, it's important to listen to mothers who have made sacrifices for their kids. But not all sacrifices are identical.
Sidney M. Gutierrez: Shooting for the Stars
The first U.S.-born Latino astronaut to pilot a space mission blazed the long road to NASA with determination and optimism.