Bog butter barrels

Bog Butter Barrels and Ireland’s 3000-Year-Old Refrigerators

Wooden Bog Butter Barrels are possibly the most beautiful things you can find in a bog.  But why did people throw their butter into bogs?
Oneida community home building

Eroticism and Religion in Utopia

Some 19th-century utopian idealists took up deeply unconventional sexual arrangements based specifically on their religious beliefs.
uncomfortable chairs

Character-Building With Uncomfortable Chairs

Chairs were a subject of much debate as far back as the nineteenth century, pitting health and technology against propriety and aesthetics.
Bonnie Nardi avatar

Bonnie Nardi

Welcome to Ask a Professor, our series that offers an insider’s view of life in academia. This month we interviewed Bonnie Nardi.
Martin Shkreli

Is a Fair Trial Possible in the Age of Social Media?

Is it possible to have a fair trial or an impartial jury in an age when anyone is just a viral tweet or a Facebook search away?
Mummified cats

How Ancient Peoples Fed the Dead

4,000 years ago in what is now Jerusalem, someone was buried with a jar of headless toads. In fact, many ancient graves included food for the afterlife.
John Green

John Green

John Green spoke with The English Journal about his writing, how English teachers can connect with young readers, advice for young writers, and more.
Salt Lake City Temple Glass Holy of Holies

How Mormons Have Made Religion Out of Doubt

Because of its commitment to continuing revelation, Mormonism is replete with examples of individual doubt that have resulted in more, not less, religion.
Isolated shot of a cup of coffee on white background

How Coffee Went from a Mystical Sacrament to an Everyday Drink

The history of coffee starts in Ethiopia, where it grew wild. Locals used it as a sacrament in communal ceremonies and to keep up energy.
Duncan Hines cake

Duncan Hines, Cake Mix Maker Extraordinaire

Duncan Hines was not created by a marketing department. Born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1880, he became an amateur restaurant critic.