A variety of vintage orange plastic items

The Revolutionary Past of Plastics

When plastics were first invented, they seemed to promise a utopian future.
A young Irish woman working at a spinning wheel. Engraving by Francis Holl

How War Revolutionized Ireland’s Linen Industry

During the Napoleonic Wars, Irish women, who had traditionally only spun flax into thread, took over the traditionally male job of weaving linen as well.
A woman resting her head on her work desk

Is Burnout Really a Disease?

Perhaps, instead of thinking of burnout as a disease to be dealt with at the individual level, we might collectively address it as a social problem.
Design 513, Damask, 1956 and Design 104, Printed Silk and Fortisan Casement [curtain fabric], 1955, by Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fraught Attempt at Mass Production

The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright famously loathed commercialism, and yet he (reluctantly) designed commercial homewares to be mass produced.
Scientist viewing plant leaf in a petri dish under a inverted microscope in a laboratory.

Artificial Photosynthesis

What is artificial photosynthesis, how does it work, and why would we need it?
Portrait of William Blake, 1807

William Blake, Radical Abolitionist

Blake’s works offer an alternative to the failures of the Enlightenment, which couldn’t muster a consistent argument for abolition.
Into the Jaws of Death by Robert F. Sargent

The Weather Forecast That Saved D-Day

Operation Overlord launched the invasion of German-occupied Europe during WWII. But the right weather, tides, and moonlight were essential for it to work.
A Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP) California sea lion waits for his handler to give the command to search the pier for potential threats during International Mine Countermeasures Exercise (IMCMEX in Manama, Bahrain

Navy Seals: Why the Military Uses Marine Mammals

A beluga whale was suspected to be a spy. It's not as outlandish as it may seem.
Plastic waste floating in the sea

Is Plastic Pollution Depriving Us of Oxygen?

Plastic debris is killing the ocean’s “invisible forests,” which produce ten percent of the oxygen we breathe.
A man with his daughter paying a bill

Hospital Bills, Intersectionality, and Civilizational Collapse

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