Publication Title

Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies

The kimono that the world associates with Japan was actually created in the late-nineteenth century as a cultural identifier.

A hand-painted show card evokes a certain nostalgia and humanity that machine-made signs can never arouse: It suggests honesty.

Soda water is a popular beverage now, but it was once considered a cure, among other things.

Mourning clothes were a signal to the world that a family—really, that a woman had suffered a loss.

Ambergris, a waxy-like substance found in perfumes, has a unique origin.

So it entirely slipped my mind that Lingua Obscura recently turned one (yay!) and is now a veritable ...

Climate scientists tend to be optimistic and have faith that humanity can engineer our way out of the climate change we’ve created.