The Paris Agreement: Annotated
The Paris Agreement on Climate was adopted in December 2015 at the twenty-first meeting of the Committee of the Parties (COP21), as part of a continuing international effort to mitigate...
“Zombie” Anthony Comstock Walks Among US (Again)
There are Friday news dumps, and then there are days like April 7, 2023, when, in less than an hour, two contradictory US District Court decisions on the use of...
“There’s Gold in Them Thar Fungi”: Cordyceps as Cash Crop
HBO’s series The Last of Us may have been the first time many viewers encountered the nightmare-inducing fungus of the genus Cordyceps. Or perhaps it was in that spectacular sequence...
Lyndon B. Johnson’s Decision Speech: Annotated
Fifty-five years ago today, on March 31, 1968, US President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed the country for almost forty-one minutes during Sunday prime time, in an era when there were...
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Annotated
On February 2, 1848, representatives of the governments of the United States and Mexico met in the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo to sign a treaty that would end Mexican-American War,...
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe: Annotated
Edgar Allan Poe, born on January 19, 1809, was a remarkably versatile writer who ventured across many fields of interest. His prolific output encompassed poetry, short stories, literary criticism, and...
Words for Birds
...evidence of existence. Puffins Seen Using Tools, Breaking Dumb-Puffin Stereotypes Liz Tracey February 2, 2020 Reputed to be a less intelligent bird species, puffins have been observed scratching themselves with...
Our Most Popular Stories of 2022
...have wondered if it was backed by scientific research. Beware the Ides of March. (But Why?) Liz Tracey March 15, 2022 Everybody remembers that the Ides of March was the...
Editors’ Picks of 2022
...about this clavier, and what’s a “clavier,” anyway? Harvey Milk’s Gay Freedom Day Speech: Annotated Liz Tracey June 13, 2022 Five months before his assassination in 1978, Harvey Milk called...
The Treaty of Ghent: Annotated
On December 24, 1814, representatives of the United States and the British Empire met to sign the Treaty of Ghent that, once ratified, would end another war between them. The...