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Efka Pyramiden cigarette papers in a green packaging sleeve made in Nazi Germany, Accession Number 2004.705.5

Papering Over History

Efka—the German rolling paper company—was a Nazi regime favorite. After World War II, it was refashioned as a darling of the pot-infused counterculture.

Unearthing Justice

Conceptual image of green server room.

Is AI Good for the Planet?

The algorithms that promise to predict wildfires and optimize energy grids are powered by servers that drink up rivers and belch out more carbon than cars.

Reading Lists

Stained Glass Window in the Nazareth Synagogue in Paris

Introduction to Jewish Studies: A Reading List

The broad, ever-expanding field of Jewish Studies is united by texts, events, and figures that engage an established canon of ideas across disciplines.

Read Before You Go

Commercial and tourist docks of St. George's, Grenada.

Grenada: When the Cold War Got Spicy

The 1983 invasion of Grenada raised questions about the legitimacy of American reactions to a communist presence on the island.

Suggested Readings

A earth globe balancing on the edge of a stick, symbolizing climate crisis

Tipping Points, Cleaning the Air, and New Body Parts

Well-researched stories from Nautilus, The Conversation, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Most Recent

Arthur C. Clarke, 1965

Arthur C. Clarke’s Scuba Adventures and Ocean Frontiers

Clarke’s interest in oceanic exploration in the 1950s was, like his undersea fiction, often neglected by an audience focused on the race for outer space.
Copy of the signature page of the Declaration of Sentiments, 1848

“Declaration of Sentiments”: Annotated

The document that came out of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention extended the long-lived and hard-fought movement for women’s rights in the United States.

More Stories

Unearthing Justice

Conceptual image of green server room.

Is AI Good for the Planet?

The algorithms that promise to predict wildfires and optimize energy grids are powered by servers that drink up rivers and belch out more carbon than cars.

Reading Lists

Stained Glass Window in the Nazareth Synagogue in Paris

Introduction to Jewish Studies: A Reading List

The broad, ever-expanding field of Jewish Studies is united by texts, events, and figures that engage an established canon of ideas across disciplines.

Read Before You Go

Commercial and tourist docks of St. George's, Grenada.

Grenada: When the Cold War Got Spicy

The 1983 invasion of Grenada raised questions about the legitimacy of American reactions to a communist presence on the island.

Suggested Readings

A earth globe balancing on the edge of a stick, symbolizing climate crisis

Tipping Points, Cleaning the Air, and New Body Parts

Well-researched stories from Nautilus, The Conversation, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Long Reads

Blue-stained serpentine Neotyphodium coenophialum mycelia inhabiting the intercellular spaces of tall fescue leaf sheath tissue. Magnified 400x.

Better Farming Through Endophytes

Scientists look to “probiotics” for crops as a new green revolution in agriculture.
Books of imagination. Surreal art. fantasy painting. Books flying in the clouds.

Speculative Fiction: Beyond a Novel’s Entertainment Value

The classroom is a place to equip students to better understand the world as it was and is. Speculative fiction can help.
In this aerial view the 'Sycamore Gap' tree on Hadrian's Wall lies on the ground leaving behind only a stump in the spot it once proudly stood, on September 28, 2023 northeast of Haltwhistle, England. The tree, which was apparently felled overnight, was one of the UK's most photographed and appeared in the 1991 Kevin Costner film "Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves."

An Untimely Death at Sycamore Gap

The outcry over the violent felling of a beloved tree in 2023 affirms the power trees hold in our cultural memory.
Atlantic Salmon

Taking “Stock” of Salmon and Word Choice

The long debate over spawning habits and genetics belies the problems caused by categorizing fish with a term associated with finance and breeding.

Caught in nature’s own flypaper, insects are preserved more perfectly than almost anywhere else; some beetles even retained the color of their shells.

La Brea and Beyond

Illustration of carbon capture technology which uses filter technology to remove the green house gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it underground.

Who Owns the Ground Beneath Your Feet?

Carbon removal, a proposed solution to climate change, will require the injection of CO2 underground—but under whose property?
A man scrambles up a gully on the Crestone Needle in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado.

How Science Might Help Keep Wild Places Wild

Recreation researchers are studying how to minimize human impact on public lands while maximizing accessibility.
West County Recycles, Richmond, CA

Did “Big Oil” Sell Us on a Recycling Scam?

Our focus on recycling to save the planet may be missing the mark.