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.

Why the Rohingya are so vulnerable (The Conversation)
by Engy Abdelkader
Long before the current round of atrocities against the Rohingya in Myanmar, colonialism and religious conflicts turned the Muslim ethnic group into the world’s largest stateless community.

The forgotten women around Descartes (The New York Times)
by Christia Mercer
When we think about modern philosophy, we tend to start with Descartes. But a look at contemporary texts—particularly spiritual writings by women—shows that his work wasn’t as original as his intellectual descendants claimed.

Even without a brain, jellyfish can sleep (Nature)
by Carrie Arnold
Philosophers and scientists have speculated for centuries about why we need to sleep. Now a new study finds that the behavior goes even farther back in evolution than we thought. Even without a brain, jellyfish still sleep a lot like we do.

What’s to blame for football players’ violence? (Pacific Standard)
by Jared Keller
How much can we blame CTE, the brain disease common in football players, for Aaron Hernandez’s crime? A look at the state of the science, and the law.

Feminist personal essays in 1910s Japan (Atlas Obscura)
by Sarah Laskow
In the 1910s, a group of Japanese women wrote about their personal lives in a way that quickly became political, challenging social norms around gender and class.

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