The Age of Wonder Meets the Age of Information
What can past eras of information overload teach students about critically consuming content in the present?
On The Fragility of Our Knowledge Base
Historian Glenn D. Tieffert shows how state interests in the People’s Republic of China can be protected by editing online databases and collections.
Experimental Archaeology, Animal Thought, and Brain Rot
Well-researched stories from Ars Technica, Psyche, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
The Editor Who Drove Hemingway Away
Harry C. Hindmarsh, assistant managing editor of the Toronto Daily Star, knew how to get under Ernest Hemingway’s skin.
How Minnesota Became a Queer Hmong Mecca
Despite policies meant to scatter immigrants from the same ethnic group across the United States, the Twin Cities area became a refuge for LGBTQ Hmongs.
Ivory Towers: Good or Bad?
The ivory tower has always been metaphoric, but as Steven Shapin shows, its symbolic value has shifted over the centuries.
Laughing With the Fascists
Mussolini’s regime isn’t generally associated with a sense of humor, but the Fascist party found comedy useful in certain circumstances.
Close Calls: When the Cold War Almost Went Nuclear
Most of the nuclear near-misses during the Cold War were kept under wraps, and they still make for unnerving reading in the twenty-first century.
Industrial Policy via Women’s Magazines
In the early 1900s, women’s magazines helped both women and men grapple with China’s fast-changing world of technology and industrial activity.
Home Foundations Are Crumbling. This Mineral Is to Blame.
Pyrrhotite causes cracks in concrete. But research on how widespread the issue might be has only scratched the surface.