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

In 1950, the U.S. State Department fired 91 employees because they were homosexual or suspected of being homosexual.

In eighteenth century Japan, human excrement played a vital role in agriculture. Can similar solutions help manage waste today?

Peru and Chile both produce the grape brandy called pisco, and they both consider it their national drink.

The literary critic Walter Benn Michaels challenges the prevailing trends of postmodernist theory.

Marine heatwaves are becoming stronger and more common as the climate warms.

Ch'arki is made in the high-altitude Andes by alternately drying the meat in the hot sun and freezing it during the cold nights.

For one thing, there are several species of hazelnuts, including a couple native to North America.

For many science-obsessed Victorians, X-rays were not just a fun novelty, but a potential miracle cure.

Urban Dictionary continues a long history of recording low-brow language. It’s also a repository of a specific kind of internet immaturity.