Prince Rupert’s Drops of Mystery
400 years of trying to solve the mystery of Prince Rupert's Drops, bizarrely hard beads of glass that have long captivated scientists.
How Delicious Meat Pies Put Natchitoches on the Map
The Natchitoches meat pie, a crimped half moon hiding a pocket of spiced meat, exemplifies “culinary place making."
Sentenced to Death (and Other Tales from the Dark Side of Language)
One cold morning in 1953, Derek Bentley, a nineteen-year-old youth in the wrong place with the wrong words, was hanged for a murder he did not commit.
The Case for Open Borders
Is a world without borders an idea so crazy it just might work? Scholars weigh in on how open borders might solve the world's immigration problem.
How We Escape It: An Essay
Escape is an ancient word, escapism, a modern one, and the designation of a genre—“escape literature”—dates to the 1930s.
Suggested Readings: DACA’s Kids, Outlawing War, and the Real Pro-Life Leaders
Well-researched stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.
Does the Internet Help or Harm Our Ability to Weather Natural Disasters?
Does our technology help us deal with disaster? Or does it put us at risk by creating the illusion that we are immune from disaster?
Flying Spaghetti Monsters and the Quest for Religious Authenticity
Fake religions tend to embrace irony over piety and satire over sincerity, preferring to critique existing institutions than to displace them.
The History of Purple, From Pliny to Prince
In August Pantone honored late singer/songwriter Prince with a new shade of purple called Purple Rain. Why is the color purple considered to be so special?
How Marketing Made L.A.
In the early 20th century, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce started marketing L.A as an earthquake-free alternative to San Francisco.