The Incorruptible Body of Francis Xavier
After the co-founder of the Jesuit Society died in 1552, the miraculous preservation of his body advanced the cause of Catholicism across Europe and Asia.
From Weapons to Wildlife?
While war is an environmental as well as human disaster, readiness and preparation for armed conflict is more ambiguous ecologically.
When San Francisco Feminists Rated Mexican Abortions
The California activists played the role of a health agency to ensure women received safe and competent health care in Mexican clinics.
A Literary Hit Job: Julian Hawthorne Takes Down Margaret Fuller
Fuller’s works, and works about her, sold very well until Hawthorne cast her as a “fallen woman” in his biography of his parents.
Is Star Trek’s Warp Drive Possible?
The concept of the warp drive is currently at odds with everything we know to be true about physics.
Punitive Portraits of the Renaissance
The Italian legal tradition called for the public display of a humiliating—but recognizable—portrait of the disgraced person.
Religion of the Devil, Philosophy of the Coiled Serpent
In yoga’s early days in the United States, skeptics warned it would lead people (e.g., women) of good faith and standing into paganism and ill repute.
The Cutting-Edge Cartoons of Winsor McCay
A prolific, meticulous artist, McCay created characters and storyscapes that inspired generations of cartoonists and animators.
Turmeric, Wrestling Spiders, and Early Christians
Well-researched stories from Undark, The Conversation, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Elena Guro and the Cubo-Futurism Group
Informed by the philosophies of the Futurists, Guro's painting and poetry represented an era of experimentation and innovation in Russian art.