In Search of Einstein’s Brain
After Albert Einstein’s death in 1955, a pathologist—searching for the secret of genius—removed, dissected, and ultimately stole the mathematician’s brain.
Object Lessons from the Modern Environmental Movement
This Earth Day, we're looking at the ominous slash beautiful material culture of the modern environmental movement.
The Irish Fasting Tradition
Particularly before the Second Vatican Council (a.k.a. Vatican II), fasting was part of the Catholic calendar. No one took it more seriously than the Irish.
Working Against the Clock: Time Colonialism and Lakota Resistance
Resisting Western conceptualizations of time and productivity, the Lakota peoples have maintained a task-oriented economy based on kinship and relationships.
An Earthquake Rattles Japan’s Independent Living Movement
The Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 highlighted the lack of financial and logistical support for people with disabilities to live independently.
How to Fight Like a Girl
Women have been punching each other in the face (during boxing matches) since the early 1700s.
How to Look at Art and Understand What You See
There are dozens of ways of looking at visual art. None of them are wrong, but certain methods facilitate deeper connection and understanding.
Divorce, Gen-X Style
By clinging to a one-dimensional view of selfish parents and ignored kids, GenXers missed the chance to empathize with their (heading-for-a-divorce) parents.
Boys in Dresses: The Tradition
It’s difficult to read the gender of children in many old photos. That’s because coding American children via clothing didn’t begin until the 1920s.