How the meaning of Blackness, and the social construction of race, varies across era and region.

Scholars of early modern England have shown how plague and protest are often correlated. The Black Death of 1348 laid the groundwork for the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, for example.

In Maya culture, rulers used stingray spines in bloodletting rituals. Researchers have ideas about why.

Using aluminum as a case study, a geographer shows how wartime "commodity chains" can devastate the Earth.

The fight against locust swarms allowed the Soviet Union to consolidate power over neighboring regions.

As heat waves induced by climate change roil the Arctic Circle, Siberians are articulating a distinct identity.

The first trial to use forensic toxicology electrified France in 1840 with the tale of a bad marriage and poisoned innards.

As the crowned heads of Europe shuddered at the unrest in the streets, members of the Latter-Day Saints movement cheered.

By the 19th century, tea was the British national beverage, and "tea histories" were a form of imperial propaganda.

In states transitioning from authoritarianism to democracy, resistance to police abuses can make or break the larger democratic project, explains one social scientist.