Rachel Carson Conducts Marine Biology Research with Bob Hines

Rachel Carson’s Critics Called Her a Witch

When Silent Spring was published, the response was overtly gendered. Rachel Carson's critics depicted her as hysterical, mystical, and witchy.
W.E.B. DuBois, 1904

W. E. B. Du Bois Fought “Scientific” Racism

Early-twentieth-century intellectual W. E. B. DuBois countered the then-popular idea that African Americans could be scientifically proven to be inferior.
Janet Collins

The History of African-American Casting in Ballet

Ballet has been slow to accept African-American dancers in major companies, and those who make it tend to be offered limited roles.
The Miscegenation Troll

The “Miscegenation” Troll

The term “miscegenation” was coined in an 1864 pamphlet by an anonymous author.
Creole in a Red Turban by Jacques Aman

The Free People of Color of Pre-Civil War New Orleans

Before American concepts of race took hold in the newly-acquired Louisiana, early 19th-century New Orleans had large population of free people of color.
Female Mosquito filled with blood

Scientists Are Putting Mosquitoes on Human Diet Drugs

Humans and mosquitoes share a surprising amount of genes and have similar hunger controls.
A futuristic view of air travel over Paris as people leave the Opera.

Can Science Fiction Predict the Future of Technology?

Science fiction isn’t limited to predicting tech developments: It’s more broadly concerned with imagining possible futures, or alternative presents.
a NASA Mars Exploration Rover

A Mars Miracle, Medical Racism, and Murderous Humans

Well-researched stories from The New Yorker, Pens and Needles, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Yorktown Victory Monument, Colonial National Historic Site, Yorktown, Virginia

Whitewashing American History

One of the National Park Service's first historic preservation projects, the Colonial National Monument, wrote people of color completely out of the story.
A tarsier

Can Wildlife Adapt to Heat Waves?

Heatwaves have led to widespread deaths of animals like big-eyed tarsiers and flying foxes. Is there hope for species like this as temperatures rise?