Portraits in the Characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo by Richard Samuel

The Bluestockings

Meet the original Bluestockings, a group of women intellectuals. Their name would eventually become a misogynist epithet -- but it didn't start that way.
A child sitting in front of a window on a bed

Was the One-Child Policy Ever a Good Idea?

China's “one-child” policy has been relaxed, and now married couples may have two children. But according to scholars, the damage is already done.
A man breathing in nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and a man exhibiting its exhilarating effects.

How Medical Researchers Used to Party

There’s always been some fuzziness in our distinctions between medicine and recreational drugs. Just look at nitrous oxide.
Signage reading, Closed for Maintenance, on the side of an island road

This Island Is Closed for Maintenance

The Faroe Islands owe their untouched nature to their remote location and stormy climate. And to a weekend closure.
A thumbprint on a screen

How Scientific Is Forensic Science?

We like to think that physical evidence is a foolproof way to lock in a conviction. The problem is that forensic science isn't exactly a science.
Gregory Peck and Mary Badham review the script for the film, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' directed by Robert Mulligan.

Defying the Gender Binary in the 1930s

In the 1930s, experimental psychologist Agnes Landis interviewed women who identified as "tomboys."
Private Jessica Lynch Meets With U.S. President George W. Bush in the Oval Office June 17, 2004

How American Soldier Jessica Lynch Became a Symbol

Jessica Lynch was the first woman American POW to be successfully rescued. She became symbolic in ways that had little to do with the facts of her story.
Claire Denis at the Venice Film Festival in 2009

The Corporeal Cinema of Claire Denis

French filmmaker Claire Denis is known for creating visceral viewing experiences that push the boundaries of cinema.
Space rocks floating in space as a spacecraft shines a light towards them

Kuiper Belt Objects Are as Mysterious as They Are Distant

Recently the New Horizons spacecraft made the first flyby of a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) in the extreme outer solar system. What do we know about KBOs?
Two muslim women looking out over a city.

Muslim Organizing Against Domestic Violence

How the Society for Muslim Women helped victims of domestic abuse, while also promoting Kazakh culture and knowledge of Islam.