Referendums have a way of turning everyone into a self-proclaimed political expert. But does giving a population the chance to directly weigh in on a specific issue lead to a more informed voting public?

The U.S. is the only country in the world that sentences people to die in prison for offenses committed while under the age of 18.

Tea is bound up in the nation's history of colonial expansion. British tea drinkers preferred Chinese tea at first, and had to be convinced on patriotic grounds to drink tea from India.

What constitutes adulthood has never been self-evident or value-neutral. Queer lives follow their own temporal logic.

Is Facebook bad for your mental health? Researchers have been studying the profound impact social bonds can have on health since the 1970s.

Supermarkets represented a major innovation in food distribution—a gendered innovation that encouraged women to find sexual pleasure in subordination.

Debates about the moral value of biodiversity are longstanding in the world of environmental ethics, and the issue is far from settled.

Deaf servants were favored companions of the Ottoman sultan, and their facility in nonverbal communication made them indispensable to the court.

Forensic DNA evidence has been a game-changer for law enforcement, but research shows it can contribute to miscarriages of justice.

Cities encourage potentially devastating floods by laying down asphalt and pavement. Could this be avoided by making them "spongier" and more absorbent?