Château de Fontainebleau

The Bizarre Social History of Beds

For centuries, people thought nothing of crowding family members or friends into the same bed.
India 1835 2 Mohurs

The East India Company Invented Corporate Lobbying

The historian William Dalyrmple's new book, The Anarchy, indicts the East India Company for "the supreme act of corporate violence in world history."
graphene

Will Graphene Deliver on Its Promise?

Strong, stable, and conductive at one atom thick, graphene has amazing potential in a variety of applications. But is hype all the material has?
The first Thanksgiving 1621

Thanksgiving Has Been Reinvented Many Times

From colonial times to the nineteenth century, Thanksgiving was very different from the holiday we know now.
A father and his son walk to school

The “Parenting Tax” of School Choice

The framework of school choice imposes a kind of tax, one paid in the time and effort that it imposes on many black parents.
Workers sit in the control room of reactor number two inside the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Chernobyl’s Control Room Is Open for Tourists

Who's up for a radioactive selfie?
The Premature Burial by Antoine Wiertz

The Fear of Being Buried Alive (and How to Prevent It)

Pliny the Elder remarked: “Such is the condition of humanity, and so uncertain is men’s judgment, that they cannot determine even death itself.”
Runners cross the Verrazano Bridge during the 1994 New York Marathon

The Critique of Pure Marathon

Marathon entrants today are more likely to be seeking personal validation rather than competitive victory.
Girls in gym class, 1920

The Weird Psychological Theory behind Gym Class

The initial promoters of gym class believed that a child’s mind would “remember” evolutionary phases through the stimulation of muscle tissue.
Grapes on a vine

Will There Be Wine After Climate Change?

Vintners may have to adjust their centuries-old traditions to keep the wines flowing