White Pines in Cathedral Woods, Intervale, White Mountains, N. H

Tree of Peace, Spark of War

The white pines of New England may have done more than any leaf of tea to kick off the American Revolution.
A flat boulder raised on a pinnacle of ice, by Louis Haghe after J.D. Forbes

How Sports Shaped Glacier Science

The heroic masculinity that governed early glacial science had its roots in nineteenth-century British sporting culture.
A map of the moon

Finding Caves on the Moon Is Great. On Mars? Even Better.

The recent discovery of a large cave on the Moon highlights the importance of caves not just for future space explorers but astrobiology as well.
Nature Morte Aux Citrons, 1918 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

When French Citrus Colonized Algeria

The citrus industry in Algeria honed French imperial apparatuses and provided a means for France to define and shape the behavior of its colonial subjects.
An AI doctor on a computer screen

Dr. AI Will See You Now

The integration of artificial intelligence into public health could have revolutionary implications for the global south—if only it can get online.
Andrea Prader, c. 1977

Defining and Redefining Intersex

The transatlantic circulation of ideas between Baltimore and Zurich consolidated and standardized treatments of intersex infants in the 1950s.
USS Nautilus arriving at New York City in 1958

Eisenhower and the Real-Life Nautilus

The voyage of the USS Nautilus under the North Pole in August 1958 was a strategic use of technological spectacle as propaganda under Eisenhower.
Hydraulics: six different kinds of waterwheel, used for lifting weights. Engraving c.1861

The Scientists, the Engineers, and the Water Wheel

In the eighteenth century, a mathematician, an astronomer, and an engineer each tried to apply their expertise to increasing the efficiency of water wheels.
Corn field and stormy sky, strong wind is blowing and bending plants in cultivated landscape

Biofuels: Feeding the Earth or Feeding the Engine?

Around the world, biofuels, so-called green energy sources, are waving major red flags.
Ptolemaeus crater (foreground), Alphonsus crater, and Arzachel crater, looking south.

The Case of the Volcano on the Moon

In 1958, Soviet astrophysicist Nikolai A. Kozyrev claimed there was an active volcano on the Moon. Dutch American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper begged to differ.