Atacama Desert Solar Panels

China Denounces Coal, Chile Goes Solar, and Guinea Tackles Sleeping Sickness

Chile turned the Atacama Desert into a giant solar farm, China denounced coal power, and Guinea has been plagued by sleeping sickness.
Illustration of an insect between brackets and a pair of hands

Why We Need to Start Listening to Insects

The study of wingbeat has come an incredibly long way and could lead to breakthroughs crucial for human populations facing insect-borne disease and pests.
Dancing Skeletons, 'Dance of Death' Rare Books Keywords: epb 5822

English Sweating Sickness: The Epidemic You Forgot to Be Terrified Of

The 15th and 16th epidemics of English sweating sIckness still fascinate historians and epidemiologists. 
Doctor Death

Why Did the Plague Continue to Reemerge After the Middle Ages?

New research suggests alarming details about the plague, which repeatedly devastated populations across Europe, Asia, and Africa over the centuries. 
Mandarin orange

Ignoring the Cure for Scurvy

It may have altered the outcome of the Revolutionary War.
Courtesy of D. Joshua Taylor

The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and Your Ancestors

The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 was a global catastrophe that is estimated to have killed between 40 and 50 million people.
A woman clutches at a tissue and her sinuses

The Mystery of Super-Spreaders

It’s estimated that roughly 20% of the population are so-called "super-spreaders" who cause 80% of infectious disease cases.
Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife, an oil painting, by John Singer Sargent from 1885

The Culture of Tuberculosis

When perusing the biographies of artists, you'll notice that a large number of them had tuberculosis.
Vultures on tree

How The Near Extinction of Indian Vultures Led to Disaster

The populations of the nine species of Indian vultures began to plummet in the 1990s
Fear of Ebola

Psy-Q: The Psychology Behind Our Fear of Ebola

Welcome to the first of a new weekly column, Psy-Q, which delves into the JSTOR archives to give ...