The internet has played a large role in fostering intense fan communities. But are these high-octane, super-specific interests healthy? Or...interesting?

Well-researched stories from The Atlantic, The Conversation, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

From Egypt to East Asia, ways of making mummies have varied. Sometimes, as a recent find reveals, mummification happens completely by accident.

We cook bread, meat, and vegetables much the same way: in our ovens. So why do we say we "bake" bread, but we "roast" meat and veggies?

Since the 16th century, anonymous authors have been posting provocative political messages on or near these Roman statues.

The first baths weren't about getting clean or relaxing. In the 1860s, experts agreed that the best kind of bath was a brief plunge in cold water.

Trying to bring down that fever? Studies show that most fevers are actually integral to effective immune responses.

In the 1830s, American women, including Catherine Beecher, worked to fight Andrew Jackson’s genocidal Indian Removal campaign.

Throughout Europe, soccer matches like the FIFA World Cup have become deeply significant, in part because that continent's identity is so complex.

The 1874 locust swarm was estimated to be twice the square mileage of the state of Colorado. Why don't locusts swarm anymore?