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

Which words are considered taboo varies by place and time, scholars find.

Colonial education administrators recruited teachers from the mainland, but soon realized another strategy was in order.

Reputed to be a less intelligent bird species, puffins have been observed scratching themselves with sticks.

The science of astronomy is at odds with the basic organizing principle in astrology: the dates of the zodiac.

The 19th-century naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace created a visualization that tied different species to specific regions of the world.

The legal concept of "terra nullius"—meaning "no one's land"—influenced European colonialism and continues to shape the practice of conservation.

As José Ferrer was being handed his Oscar—making him the first Latino actor to win—he was being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Can environmental law help contain viruses that spill over from animal to human populations?

Paleontologists recently solved the riddle of whether two fossil specimens were young T. rexes or a whole different species.