On Harvests and Histories
Almanacs from the Civil War era reveal how two sides of an embattled nation used data from the natural world to legitimize their claims to statehood.
What Does It Take to Be Crowned Miss Vietnam USA?
Beauty pageants, a familiar part of post-war diasporic Vietnamese culture, help participants and viewers forge new identities amid forces of globalization.
Ape Memories, Hearing Aids, and The Color Purple
Well-researched stories from Undark, OpenMind Magazine, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
New Zealand’s Quest to Save Its Rotund, Flightless Parrots
DNA sequencing, GPS tracking and tailored diets are slowly restoring the endangered kākāpō.
Poland’s Colonial Dreams
With the resurrection of a Polish state in the aftermath of World War I, Poland seriously flirted with colonialism—in Liberia.
A True Crime Syllabus
How did we become so obsessed with “true crime”? This multidisciplinary syllabus shows how we view crime as a whole and how those views have changed over time.
Coming Up Kudzu
Employed as a symbol of the American South or used as shorthand for unchecked growth, kudzu has demonstrated a tenacity beyond all imagination.
The Rise of Anti-Societies
In the early 1800s, Americans formed all sorts of anti-vice societies, triggering jokes and serious resistance to reform through a wave of anti-societies.
Cinchona: A Legacy of Extraction and Extirpation
The source of quinine, cinchona tells a story about the value placed on parts of plants and how that value can be extracted and distorted in support of empire.
Ancient Black Hole Challenges Our Understanding of the Early Universe
The Big Bang theory is not threatened, but astrophysicists have some explaining to do.