Delegates applaud after a speech by Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (C), President of the UNFCCC COP28 Climate Conference, during a plenary session on day thirteen of the UNFCCC COP28 Climate Conference on December 13, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Is the COP28 Climate Deal Enough?

The agreement mandates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions created by burning fossil fuels and formally adopts a climate loss and damage fund.
The Confederate States almanac for 1862

On Harvests and Histories

Almanacs from the Civil War era reveal how two sides of an embattled nation used data from the natural world to legitimize their claims to statehood.
Several entries in the Miss Teen Vietnam pageant attend the closing night awards gala for the 8th annual Asian World Film Festival at Saban Theatre on November 18, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California.

What Does It Take to Be Crowned Miss Vietnam USA?

Beauty pageants, a familiar part of post-war diasporic Vietnamese culture, help participants and viewers forge new identities amid forces of globalization.
Western chimpanzees

Ape Memories, Hearing Aids, and The Color Purple

Well-researched stories from Undark, OpenMind Magazine, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
A Kākāpō in New Zealand

New Zealand’s Quest to Save Its Rotund, Flightless Parrots

DNA sequencing, GPS tracking and tailored diets are slowly restoring the endangered kākāpō.
Monrovia, Liberia, 1910

Poland’s Colonial Dreams

With the resurrection of a Polish state in the aftermath of World War I, Poland seriously flirted with colonialism—in Liberia.
An illustration of a hand holding a set of hand cuffs

A True Crime Syllabus

How did we become so obsessed with “true crime”? This multidisciplinary syllabus shows how we view crime as a whole and how those views have changed over time.
Grand Central terminal clock

Keeping Time: A New Year’s Collection

A selection of stories that chronicle our complicated notions of time.
Kudzu taking over forest

Coming Up Kudzu

Employed as a symbol of the American South or used as shorthand for unchecked growth, kudzu has demonstrated a tenacity beyond all imagination.
Undated broadsheet, Printed Ephemera Collection, Portfolio 23, Folder 11, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. ht

The Rise of Anti-Societies

In the early 1800s, Americans formed all sorts of anti-vice societies, triggering jokes and serious resistance to reform through a wave of anti-societies.