As Militaries Adopt AI, Hype Becomes a Weapon
Few things provoke quite the same amount of anxiety as the effect AI could have on warfare.
Spanish Colonists were Desperate for European Food
Spanish colonists in the Americas were terrified that their essential humors would change if they ate local food.
How Strong of a Nuclear Bomb Could Humans Make?
The biggest nuclear blast in history came courtesy of Tsar Bomba. We could make something at least 100 times more powerful.
How Sailors Brought the World Home
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, sailors gained a knowledge of the world and access to exotic goods unlike anything other non-elites could imagine.
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.
Policing Radicals: Britain vs. the United States
British policing of Communism before and into the Cold War has often been compared favorably with America’s witch-hunt hysteria. But was it really better?
The Nashville Museum of Natural and Artificial Curiosities
Inspired by Peale’s Philadelphia Museum, artist and collector Ralph E. W. Earl founded a similar institution in Tennessee in 1818.
Did Caterina Sforza Flash an Army?
According to legend, Sforza lifted her skirts to show her adversaries that she had the body parts to make more children. But why?
The Shameless City
The discourse around police raids of so-called molly houses reflected the fear that London was a new Sodom where anonymity allowed people to be shameless.