When Ward Cleaver Caused Social Anxiety
In the early 1960s, an Illinois Children and Family Services worker tried to figure out how TV dads were impacting contemporary American fathers.
The Antikythera Shipwreck Keeps Revealing Wonders
In the first century B.C.E., a Roman ship sank near the Greek Island of Antikythera. In 1900 some off-course sponge divers discovered the wreckage.
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?
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.
Ancient Maps Are Mirrors for the Ancient Psyche
The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences, and Marvels for the Eyes, an eleventh-century Arabic geography, is still a wonder.
What Does It Mean to Own an Animal?
Those who view animals as property misunderstand the nature of property, a legal scholar suggests.
The Racialized History of “Hysteria”
Even three decades after “hysteria” was deleted from the DSM-III, some of the word’s diagnostic power obviously still remains.
The Psychology Behind Why Clowns Creep Us Out
For several months in 2016, creepy clowns terrorized America, with sightings of actual clowns in at least 10 different states.
Can Makeup Be Feminist?
Makeup has become a huge industry. Is it possible to enjoy the practice of beautification and be feminist at the same time?
Charlottesville Syllabus: Readings on the History of Hate in America
The history of racism and ethnic hate in America is long and deep. What are the cultural, economic, and political currents that led us here?