A 19th century advertisement for tomato seeds

Tomatoes as Medicine

Tomatoes, once believed by Americans to be poisonous, became an unquestioned staple of a healthy diet thanks to doctors and popular cookbooks.
An advertisement for Burdock Blood Bitters

The Bitter Truth About Bitters

A bottle of bitters from about 1918 had significant amounts of alcohol and lead—and not a trace of the supposed active ingredient.
Advertisement for Ayer's Sarsaparilla

Plant of the Month: Sarsaparilla

From an early modern treatment for syphilis to Saturday-morning cartoons, the meaning and significance of the plant has transformed through time and space.
Botanical manuscript of 450 watercolors of flowers and plants

Plant of the Month: Dittany

Did women in the premodern world have much agency over reproduction? Their use of plants like dittany suggests that they did.
Alice Ball

The Chemist Whose Work Was Stolen from Her

The Black scientist Alice Ball helped develop a treatment for leprosy in the early twentieth century. But someone else took the credit.
A 19th-century advertisement for Hood's Tooth Powder

How the Ban on Medical Advertising Hurt Women Doctors

Intended to protect consumers from unscrupulous quackery, a nineteenth-century ban on medical advertising proved to be a double-edged sword.
A lode stone encased in a gilded stand

The Souls of Magnets

Lodestones are dull, lumpy, and slate-gray, but their “magnetic intelligence” made them fabulously expensive.
The Cast of Dave Malloy’s Octet. Photo by Joan Marcus

The Art of Digital Addiction

Digital addiction is inspiring plays, books, films, and art -- just as other forms of addiction have in the past.
A physician administers leeches to a patient. Colour reproduction of a lithograph by F-S. Delpech after L. Boilly, 1827.

Why Did the Victorians Harbor Warm Feelings for Leeches?

Medical authorities wrote about leeches as if they sucked blood out of the goodness of their hearts.
A power button filled with green leaves in front of a dark background.

The 4 Questions to Ask before You Unplug

If you're concerned about the internet's effects on the world and on yourself, unplugging might not be the answer.