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.

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

Japan’s space agency has landed rovers on Asteroid Ryugu. The photos and samples from the mission will reveal a lot about asteroids.

Mountain top removal mining brings with it total ecosystem destruction. It also erases history by destroying historic mountain cemeteries.