An assistant curator at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall inspects a rare painting that is currently being kept at the museum store and warehouse

How Museums Tidy Up

Deaccessioning old works can be a complicated and fraught process. But even museums have to spring-clean now and then.
Portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger

The Codpiece and the Pox

A brief history of the codpiece, that mysterious garment favored by 16th-century gents who just may have been covering up their cases of syphilis.
Charles Drew sitting with medical residents at Freedmen's Hospital

The 1910 Report That Disadvantaged Minority Doctors

A century ago, the Flexner Report led to the closure of 75% of U.S. medical schools. It still explains a lot about today’s unequal access to healthcare.
A person saving a parking spot by laying down on the concrete.

When Did We Start Paying to Park Our Cars?

A Curious Reader asks: When and why did parking become monetized?
Demonstrating the administration of the polygraph, the polygrapher making notes on the readouts.

The Online Lie Detector Is No Better Than the Polygraph

People love the idea of a machine that tells us who to trust. But the historical analog of the online lie detector also didn't work.
A cowboy in the western United States, between 1898 and 1905

Go West, You Nervous Men

The "Rest Cure" for women is notorious. But the "West Cure" for men, though little known today, is a fundamental part of American mythology.
A black and white image of a person trapped behind glass

How YouTube Is Shaping the Future of Work

Americans expect our jobs to provide us with not just money but fulfillment. For many, YouTube represents exactly that promise.
A doctor talking to a female patient

Blaming Women for Infertility in the 1940s

In the early days of fertility treatments, some doctors theorized that women’s unconscious hatred of their husbands kept them from conceiving.
A drone delivering a package

The Drone Will See You Now

As drones become normalized, companies like Zipline are using them to deliver life-saving medicines to faraway places.
Ruth Page and Harald Kreutuzberg in Bacchanale, 1934

Ruth Page, the Ballerina Who Danced Poems

In the 1940s, American dancer Ruth Page combined poetry, performance, and personal reflection to create a new type of dance.