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.
Fragment of the NWA7397 meteorite found in the Sahara desert on 2012

Meteorites from Mars

Meteorites that come from Mars help scientists understand the red planet’s interior.
Advertisement for Carrier Room Air Conditioning, circa 1947.

Staying Cool: Helpful Hints From History

Take a look back at how others have survived—and thought about—the high heat of summer.
A backlit Saturn from the Cassini Orbiter, 2007

Cassini’s First Years at Saturn

For many years, the Cassini probe to Saturn provided a stable research platform that scientists used to transform our understanding of the ringed planet.
A stylized vector cartoon of a hand putting coins in an Earth shaped money Box

Debt-for-Nature Swaps: Solution or Scam?

Are debt-for-nature swaps—forgiving debt in exchange for investments in the environment—an innovative approach to debt relief or a form of recolonization?