Well-researched stories from The Conversation, Items, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Science fiction offers readers a way to rethink social dilemmas.

From the ecological to the social, “resilience” is a buzzword for our crisis-ridden age. But what is resilience exactly, and where did the idea emerge from?

Flaunting a massive collection of books did not start with work-from-home videoconferences.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began during World War II to prevent the spread of malaria to troops stationed in the South.

German expressionism--imported to Hollywood by Jewish exiles--brought a lasting tradition of shadows, duality, and mirroring to mainstream American cinema.

Scientific racism. Paternity tests. And mass tattooing, just in case of nuclear attack.

“The idea that the federal government would be providing emergency relief and emergency work was extraordinary,” one sociologist said. “And people liked it.”

The charivari (or shivaree) was a ritual in which people on the lower rungs of a community called out neighbors who violated social and sexual norms.

What two scholar-artists learned from taking ninety books on a very, very long walk.