Well-researched stories from NBC News, National Geographic, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

In addition to cleaning air pollution, trees absorb excess nutrients from soil, preventing algae blooms in waterways.

He died young of suicide and became the quintessence of the tormented poet. But his death may have been an accident, and his greatest work, forgeries.

In the 16th-18th centuries, vessels filled with nails, thorns, hair, and other materials, were used as a form of ritual protection against witches.

Workers are still cleaning up after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant partial meltdown. There's a lot of contaminated material to contend with.

When 19th-century American women visited Turkish harems, they came home with very different impressions than their male counterparts.

A lighthearted look at Americans' nicknames of yore, from master humorist H. L. Mencken.

On May 10th, 1849, protestors rioted at Astor Place Opera House, leading to the deadliest civic insurrection in American history up to that time.

Demons and artists, it seems, pull from the same bag of tricks. They take ordinary matter and transform it into something more wondrous, more terrifying.

Is militarizing rangers really the best way to cut down on poaching? It's more complicated than you might imagine.