The shadow of an airplane on a field

Will You Ever Fly in a Plane Propelled by Plants and Seeds?

Airlines have already flown planes fueled with biofuel-petroleum mixes, and more are coming.
Fireworks in a dark sky

TV Fireworks, Bare Feet, and Childish Professors

Well-researched stories from Scientific American, the Harvard Gazette, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Erotic Confessions

Before the Internet, Cable TV Was for Porn

Although porn never became a big part of the cable TV business, it was central in debates over its regulation.
A bark scorpion in Arizona

How Does a Scorpion Decide When to Sting?

There are actually two decisions to make: whether to sting at all and whether to use prevenom or full venom.
World War 1 soldiers wearing gas masks

The Amoral Scientist

Fritz Haber was a chemist who made discoveries that improved global agriculture… but also helped spawn the modern era of chemical warfare.
Gypsy Rose Lee seated at a typewriter

Who Really Wrote The G-String Murders?

Gypsy Rose Lee, the most famous burlesque star of the 1940s, wrote a series of letters published by Simon & Schuster that may prove her authorship.
An advertisement for Pernot Liqueur

The Trouble with Absinthe

When temperance advocates won the ban on absinthe in 1915, many of them saw it as the first step in a broader anti-drinking campaign.
King (Kabaka) Mwanga from Buganda (1868-1903)

Anthropologists Hid African Same-Sex Relationships

Sex between people of the same gender has existed for millennia. But anthropologists in sub-Saharan Africa often ignored or distorted those relationships.
Climbers ascending Mount Everest

Mount Everest’s Death Zone

The zone above 8,000 meters is known among mountaineers as the “Death Zone.” Why do most deaths in the high mountains occur at these extreme heights?
British Ladies Football Club 1895

The Origins of Women’s Soccer

The British Ladies Football Club held their first match at Alexandra Park in Crouch End, London in 1895.