The covers of two books, Not Out of Hate by Ma Ma Lay and Irrawaddy Tango by Wendy Law-Yone.

Burmese Women Novelists Speak Out

The novels of Ma Ma Lay and Wendy Law-Yone challenge the limits placed on the voices of Burmese women in the twentieth century.
Asteroid rock on green starry background

How Asteroids Bombarded Earth and Built the Continents

Asteroid collisions aren't always bad.
A page from The Angolite that features a photograph of a prison guard holding a shotgun while watching prisoners work in a field.

Slavery and the Modern-Day Prison Plantation

"Except as punishment for a crime," reads the constitutional exception to abolition. In prison plantations across the United States, slavery thrives.
Sa Ga Yeath Pieth Tow, King of the Maquas by John Simon

Indigenous Kings in Londontown

In 1710, Queen Anne of England feted four Native American dignitaries—would-be political allies. Their presence at a performance of Macbeth caused a stir.
Dr Spurzheim phrenology chart

What Skulls Told Us

The pseudoscience phrenology swept the popular imagination, and its practitioners made a mint preying on prejudices, gullibility, and misinformation.
A young male chimpanzee playing on a termite mound in Senegal

Chimpanzees, End Times, and the Letter R

Well-researched stories from Sapiens, Black Perspectives, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Musician Little Richard performs onstage with his band as his saxophone player Grady Gaines stands on the piano in circa 1957 in scene from the movie 'Mister Rock And Roll.'

It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me

Rock and R&B have been considered separate genres for decades. But why?
Peppered moth (Biston betularia)

Humans As Drivers of Evolution

“Anthropogenic,” meaning of human causes, is generally used to refer to climate change. But it also covers the powerful evolutionary force that is humanity.
Child's shoe discovered in a wall, probably put there to protect a child from evil spirits, Lancashire, 1704

Hidden Charms

Why is there a shoe in your wall?
Marianne Moore, 1935

Marianne Moore: Master Mentor

A widely published poet with deep editorial experience, Moore turned out to be the perfect mentor for a Vassar student named Elizabeth Bishop