In romantic literature of the fourteenth and fifteen centuries, fainting wasn’t just for ladies.

The Dutch Jewish philosopher Spinoza died in 1677, which is when the battle to define his life—and work—began.

Celebrated for his plays, Shakespeare actually opened his writing career with a derivative poem.

The defining of corporations as legal “persons” entitled to Fourteenth Amendment rights got a leg up from the fight over a California anti-Chinese immigrant law.

The Arctic archipelago is a bellwether for global climate change, but it also offers a safety net in a planetary disaster scenario.

A total solar eclipse crosses North America on Monday, April 8. Be prepared!

Marbled paper was a way to make banknotes and checks unique—a critical characteristic for a nascent American Republic.

But they can look wildly different on other worlds.

In addition to a New Wave hit, Nell Dunn's 1963 book about young women in a poor London neighborhood inspired a Ken Loach adaption that helped shift British attitudes toward abortion.

China had a long history of astronomy before the arrival of Europeans, but the politics of absolute rule led to the eventual embrace of Western methods.