Quinoa seeds

Quinoa: Rise of an Andean Superfood

Once considered a minor crop for Indigenous communities, quinoa’s journey to worldwide stardom was centuries in the making.

Scrub-a-Dub in a Medieval Tub

Contrary to popular misconceptions, Europeans in the Middle Ages took pains to keep themselves clean.
Overhead view of 3 heritage variety corn cobs photographed in a wicker basket. These varieties with their multi-coloured pieces of corn are popular for their decorative uses but some varieties can be used in corn meal for making taco’s for example. Also known as Indian corn or flint corn. Colour, horizontal with some copy space.

Translating Corn

To most of the world, “corn” is “maize,” a word that comes from the Taíno mahizwas. Not for British colonists in North America, though.
A Flying First Aid Unit. First group of its kind to be organized in the Northwest. Left to right are: Mildred Merrill, Opal Hiser, Mary Riddle, and Gladys Crooks

The High-Flying Life of Mary Riddle

One of the first Native American women aviators, Riddle leaned into stereotypes to earn a name for herself in the male-dominated world of American aviation.
Electric Eel, Electrophorus electricus, Venezuela

Electric Eels, Deepfakes, and Asbestos

Well-researched stories from Knowable Magazine, The New Yorker, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Cyclist and writer Dervla Murphy in Barcelona in 1956

Dervla Murphy: The Godmother of Hitting the Road

Perhaps the greatest female travel writer of her generation, Murphy defied the narrative of the dutiful Irish daughter—and motherhood—to find freedom.
Visitors at the Richmond night market near Vancouver

Traveling Through Time and Space in the Richmond Night Market

A night market in suburban Vancouver originated with Chinese immigrants, but its structure and management have raised questions over its supposed authenticity.
Joseph Schleifstein, a four-year-old survivor of Buchenwald, sits on the running board of an UNRRA truck soon after the liberation of the camp.

When Family Separation Became a Human Rights Issue

In the aftermath of World War II, preserving the nuclear family became a key pillar of liberal democratic ideology.
Gerda Wegener and Lili Elbe

What Actually Happened to “The Danish Girl” and Her Wife

Lili Elbe, a Danish-born transgender woman, famously transitioned in the early twentieth century. What did her spouse, Gerda Wegener, think about it?
A 4 Minute men poster, 1917

The US Propaganda Machine of World War I

As the United States prepared to enter World War I, the government created the first modern state propaganda office, the Committee on Public Information.