Sister cities may seem like mere symbolic pairings, but many actually share meaningful ties that are deliberately instituted and sustained.

Insulin coma and deep sleep therapies were used for years on patients with mental illness, even though there was never any evidence they worked.

Gaining enough weight to survive a winter of hibernation is actually very hard work.

And other wonders of spontaneous generation.

From WWI to the 1950s, the "American Plan" rounded up sexually-active women and quarantined them, supposedly to protect soldiers from venereal disease.

The cultural meaning of Guy Fawkes’ conspiracy to blow up the House of Lords has shifted, from countercultural symbol to HBO drama.

In late nineteenth-century forensics, optography was all the rage. This pseudoscience held that what someone saw just before death would be imprinted on their eye.

For a younger generation trying to understand Marxism, the best way in may be: vampirism.

Hurricanes like Sandy destroy coastlines. Clams and oysters help keep them together.

Even if you haven't actually roasted chestnuts on an open fire, you probably associate them with winter. But once they were a common year-round food.