ominous smartphone

How Pleasure Lulls Us into Accepting Surveillance

The domestication of surveillance technology has caused big legal and ethical implications for security on both a personal and a social scale.
anti-abolitionist cartoon

How Antebellum Christians Justified Slavery

After Emancipation, some Southern Protestants refused to revise their proslavery views. In their minds, slavery had been divinely sanctioned.
Slavoj Zizek

Getting a Grip on Slavoj Žižek (with Slavoj Žižek)

The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek is famous for his provocative takes, but how should we understand his basic ideas?
A modern painting depicting a thin railway and other industrial markers

The American Art Style that Idolized the Machine

Precisionism, a modernist art style that emerged in the early 20th century, glorified the machine age, all but erasing the presence of people.
gene edited pigs

You May Soon Be Eating These Gene-Edited Pigs

Scientists have produced pigs that can resist a billion dollar animal virus.
Colorful tabs marking pages in a book

Mystery Illness, Heredity, and Ice Cream

Well-researched stories from Nursing Clio, History, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Cantaloupe

Salmonella: The Good, the Bad, the Unexpected

A recent salmonella outbreak, connected with pre-cut melon, has put the bacteria back in the news. Is there any bright side to salmonella?
Jordy Rosenberg

Queering Jack Sheppard

An interview with author Jordy Rosenberg about his mesmerizing novel, Confessions of the Fox.
Marbles Reflecting a Rainbow Background

Losing Our Marbles

For decades kids across the world played with marbles, creating their own games and slang. So why did such a popular game go suddenly extinct?
seagrass in blue ocean

Why We Need Seagrass

Seagrass meadows are habitats for a variety of marine life, and a vital link between land and sea. But these crucial plants are increasingly under threat.