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Black and white headshot of author Matthew Wills

Matthew Wills

Matthew Wills has advanced degrees in library science and film studies and is lapsed in both fields. He has published in Poetry, Huffington Post, and Nature Conservancy Magazine, among other places, and blogs regularly about urban natural history at matthewwills.com.

Electrolytically refined pure (99.989 %) superficially oxidized lead nodules and a high purity (99.989 %) 1 cm3 lead cube for comparison.
Science & Technology

Lead: Our Four-Thousand Year Old Pollutant

The history of lead pollution goes back 4000 years.
Bergonic chair for giving general electric treatment for psychological effect, in psycho-neurotic cases. World War 1 era.
Health

Why Electroshock Therapy Isn’t Bad for You

Electroconvulsive therapy, or electroshock, has a bad reputation, but medically its efficacy is well documented, even if nobody knows how it works.
Thomas Couture - Horace and Lydia
Politics & History

Two Enemies Bound by the Poet Horace

How Horace brought to enemies together during WWII and what role the poet played in the post-war cultural identity of Europe.
Workers are dwarfed by the 10-foot Cardiff Giant as they dig him out of his "grave" in Cardiff, N.Y., in this 1869 file photo. AP Photo/Farmers Museum, HO)
Politics & History

The Cardiff Giant: The Biggest Hoax of the 19th Century

The Cardiff Giant was the greatest hoax in an era of hoaxes.
Holotype of Diplazium grammatoides Fée; Verified by George R. Proctor, 1985/10
Plants & Animals

Botanist and Murderer? The Strange End of George R. Proctor

The obituary of noted botanist George R. Proctor reveals a surprising story.
Hare Majesteit ontvangt premier Trudeau op Paleis Soestdijk 27 februari 1975
Politics & History

Remembering Pierre Trudeau, Father of Canada’s New Prime Minister

Canada's new Prime Minister is the son of Pierre Trudeau, the most famous Canadian politician of the late 20th century.
Sanders campaigning in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 2015
Politics & Government

What Is Democratic Socialism?

Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist, but just what is democratic socialism and where did it come from?
Front of Nobel Prize medal
Arts & Culture

On The Cultural Logic of Prizes

Prizes and awards are forms of cultural capital in prestige-making projects.
Thomas P. Gore
Politics & Government

Senator Thomas Gore, Grandfather of Gore Vidal

Thomas Gore was a senator from Oklahoma. His isolationism philosophy may have been his greatest legacy to his grandson, Gore Vidal.
Cover of the book The Catcher in the Rye written by J. D. Salinger.
 (left) The front cover of the first issue of Playboy, December 1953 (right)
Politics & History

J.D. Salinger and Playboy: The Fight Against Obscenity

The Citizens for Decent Literature launched various anti-obscenity campaigns against magazines like Playboy and MAD and books like Catcher in the Rye.
Mayor John Lindsay at the first public hearing on proposed executive capital budget.
Politics & Government

John Lindsay, Last of the Liberal Republicans

Yes, there was once such a thing as a liberal Republican. We take a look at the rise and fall of John Lindsay, former Mayor of New York.
By FEMA News Photo (This image is from the FEMA Photo Library.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Politics & Government

Preventing Nuclear Terrorism

The fight for nuclear non-proliferation by state and non-state actors alike.
Adam Lanza, Dylann Roof, James Eagan Holmes, Jared Lee Loughner, and Seung-Hui Cho, via Wikimedia Commons. Chris Harper Mercer via MySpace.
Education & Society

Mass Murderers Don’t Have a Race When They’re White

Why the race of perpetrators in mass shootings is only a factor when the shooters are not white.
Natural tar seeps at the McKittrick Oil Field By Lldenke (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Politics & History

When Petroleum Was Used As Medicine

We look at the discovery of petroleum, both linguistically and practically.
Suburban Lawn
Science & Technology

Your Green Lawn is Harming the Environment

Americans go to desperate measures to keep their lawns manicured and green. But is it worth the environmental cost?
Description: The Black Panthers march in protest of the trial of co-founder Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California. Photo Credit: Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images
Politics & History

How the Black Panther Party Inspired the Aborigines

The Black Panther Party's influence was global in scope. We look at its influence amongst the Aborigines of Australia.
Imagine John Lennon Memorial
Arts & Culture

The John Lennon Memorial

Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon memorial in Central Park, has become somewhat of a pilgrimage for Beatles and non-Beatles fans alike.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Caption: Alfred McEwen
Natural Science

The Canals of Mars

We now know there's liquid water on Mars, according to NASA. But at the turn of the 20th century, we believed something else: that Mars had canals.
Stamp commemorating the Soviet Union
Politics & Government

Brainwashing, Mind Control, and American Paranoia

During the Cold War, Americans believed the Soviets and Communist China had developed brainwashing techniques. Then it came to America.
Creative Commons License: CC-BY. Credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation - See more at: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/940/#sthash.mMzRcz2a.dpuf
Education

MacArthur Foundation Winners’ Work at JSTOR

Articles by three of this year's MacArthur Foundation Fellows.
"Juan felipe ferrera 9150360" by slowking4 - Own work. Licensed under GFDL 1.2 via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Juan_felipe_ferrera_9150360.jpg#/media/File:Juan_felipe_ferrera_9150360.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>
Arts & Culture

The History of the Poet Laureate

Juan Felipe Herrera is the new U.S. Poet Laureate. It is a position that has had a long life, dating back to the Greeks.
By Martinvl (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Politics & History

The Truth Behind the Tower Ravens

Fakelore: the deliberate fabrication of a folklore. A term that perfectly describes the legend of the Tower Ravens, the birds of the Tower of London.
"Albert Einstein 1947" by Photograph by Oren Jack Turner, Princeton, N.J. - The Library of Congress. Licensed under Public Domain via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert_Einstein_1947.jpg#/media/File:Albert_Einstein_1947.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>
Politics & History

Albert Einstein: Genius and Anti-racist

A look at Albert Einstein's passionate fight against racism.
"FrankHerbert Dune 1st" by Digital scan of book cover from [1]; copyright maintained by publisher or artist, as applicable.. Via <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FrankHerbert_Dune_1st.jpg#/media/File:FrankHerbert_Dune_1st.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>
Arts & Culture

Dune at 50

Frank Herbert's novel Dune, the best selling science-fiction novel of all time, celebrates it's 50th birthday and is still read in innovative ways.
Kenyan Scouting Association
Politics & History

Scouting In Kenya: The Transformation

Colonialism's influence in Kenyan scouting practices.

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