The Highest Flood in Italy This Century
Recent flooding in Venice has revived memories of a record-setting 1966 flood, which sparked an international rescue program for art and architecture.
The Life and Times of Franz Boas
The founder of cultural anthropology, Franz Boas challenged the reigning notions of race and culture.
A Nation in Decline, as Always
What does it really mean for a nation to be “in decline?” And why does it make for such appealing political rhetoric?
Smart Toilets: The Jetpack of the Bathroom
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are envisioning a toilet that can analyze urine for indicators of disease.
Why the Pilgrims Were Actually Able to Survive
If you were reading Bradford's version of events, you might think that the survival of the Pilgrims' settlements was often in danger.
America, Where the Dogs Don’t Bark and the Birds Don’t Sing
The Comte de Buffon's thirty-six volume Natural History claimed that America was a land of degeneracy. That enraged Thomas Jefferson.
Talk about This, Not That
Looking to avoid politics at the holiday dinner table? Food trivia, ground-up mummy pigment, and snake jaws ought to do the trick.
Vegetarian Thanksgiving Dates Back to the 1900s
Tofu Turkey was created in 1990, but some Americans celebrated Thanksgiving with veggie dishes over a century ago.
How to Sell Climate Denial
Climategate began with the leaking of emails sent to and from climate scientists. Climate skeptics quickly seized on just a few of them