The First Lunar Lander and the Great Moon Dust Debate
In 1966, the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon, helping to resolve questions about the nature of the lunar surface.
Wolfsbane: A Poisonous Beauty
With a complex history related to hunting, magic, and madness, wolfsbane offers a glimpse into vernacular plant names and their associations with animals.
The Caterpillars That Can Kill You
Some species make venoms that are deadly. With more research, those toxic compounds could yield useful medicines.
The Case of Caspar David Friedrich
Born 250 years ago, Friedrich reimagined landscape painting by portraying the vastness of nature as a setting for profound spiritual and emotional encounters.
Fighting for El Salvador, from Wisconsin
In the 1980s, people from across the US used civil programs and other direct connections with Salvadorans to build opposition to El Salvador’s oligarchy.
What’s the Legacy of Disco Music?
If you listen to Blondie, The Police, or the Pretenders, it’s in the beat.
Neocolonial Minecraft
One of the world’s best-selling video games, Minecraft conceals problematic assumptions about coloniality and power, argues educator Bennett Brazelton.
“Lynch Law in America”: Annotated
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, whose January 1900 essay exposed the racist reasons given by mobs for their crimes, argued that lynch law was an American shame.
An Epic Face-Lift: Moving Abu Simbel Out of the Nile
Some 25,000 workers cut Abu Simbel’s statues and temples into pieces, hoisted them into the air, and reassembled them on an artificial hill 200 meters away.
Creating an Ottoman Political Culture
As the Ottoman Empire became a world power in the fifteenth century, it also became a center of culture, producing original political literature and philosophy.