Well-researched stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.

Deja vu in Charlottesville (The Atlantic)
by Vann R. Newkirk II
The white supremacists who descended on Charlottesville last week were part of a long line of injuries to the local black community, from “massive resistance” and the KKK to “urban renewal” and police brutality.

Making prosthetic limbs work like real ones (Harvard Magazine)
by Erin O’Donnell
Advances in robotics have produced amazing prosthetic limbs. To really let their users get the most out of them, surgeons are beginning to tailor amputation procedures so that patients’ nerves and muscles can communicate with the artificial limbs.

Why you’re sleeping under a blanket in August (Atlas Obscura)
by Dan Nosowitz
Why do we like to sleep under blankets, even when it’s hot out? Part of the answer involves the fact that, deep in the night, we sort of turn into reptiles.

The case of the missing sperm (New York Times)
by Maya Salam
A growing body of evidence shows that human sperm counts in rich Western countries are falling fast—down more than 50 percent since 1973. Is chemical exposure to blame?

Can racism be a mental illness? (Newsweek)
by Jessica Firger
Do extreme racist beliefs signal mental illness? Could a psychologically “normal” person participate in genocidal violence? Psychologists debate the value of mental illness as a tool for understanding white supremacist violence.

Got a hot tip about a well-researched story that belongs on this list? Email us here.