A little puppy at the Complete Dog Service shop where pet owners go to seek advice, inoculations against distemper, petcare equipment, pet food and pet grooming services, c. 1940

How Interwar Britain Saved Their Dogs

Canine distemper became a major threat in Great Britain after World War I. Saving the nation’s dogs depended on an imperfect collaboration.
Egyptian papyrus which describes therapy of migraine by bandaging a clay crocodile with herbs stuffed into its mouth to the head of the patient.

Crocodile of a Migraine? An Egyptian Rx

Why the ancient Egyptians did—or did not—recommended strapping a clay crocodile to an aching head.
Young man climbing red bars against white background

The Logic and Legality of Growth

Economic growth is closely linked to profit maximization, which is central to the functioning of global market-based economies.
A series of pages of a Chinese publication with dotted frames indicating some are missing

On The Fragility of Our Knowledge Base

Historian Glenn D. Tieffert shows how state interests in the People’s Republic of China can be protected by editing online databases and collections.
Photomicrograph image of pyrrhotite under a reflected light ore microscope

Home Foundations Are Crumbling. This Mineral Is to Blame.

Pyrrhotite causes cracks in concrete. But research on how widespread the issue might be has only scratched the surface.
Vignette on page 1 of Volume 6 from Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes, by René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur.

Insects in the Mail

The efficiency of the postal system and generosity of local experts played important roles in the advancement of entomology in eighteenth-century France.
An orange cat playing with a toy

Ginger, Tortie, Calico

The mystery gene responsible for orange color in cat coats has been found.
Sofia Kovalevskaya

Science in Defiance of the Tsar: The Women of the 1860s

Sofia Kovalevskaia became the first woman in Europe to obtain her doctorate in mathematics—but only after leaving Russia for Germany.
A map of Antarctica, 1949

Antarctica Unveiled: From Accidents to Airborne Labs

Twentieth-century surveys revealed the landscape beneath the Antarctic ice using radio echo-sounding, a technique that emerged largely by accident.