A Glimpse at Women’s Periods in the Roaring Twenties
A 1927 study by famed efficiency expert Lillian Moller Gilbreth revealed how American women dealt with menstruation -- and how they wished they could.
A Phrenologist’s Dream of an Octagon House
Orson S. Fowler thought houses without right angles would offer a better life, but his own architectural experiments did not end well.
Taking Children’s Art Seriously
Are children’s drawings meaningless scribbles or serious creative work? Western scholars and child psychologists have debated this topic for years.
Why Companies Swallow Poison Pills
Faced with a potential hostile takeover, companies may deploy a dramatic shareholder rights plan, colloquially known as a "poison pill."
The Biology of Death-Feigning
Some animals, when faced with predators, play dead instead of trying to escape. But for death-feigning to work, a lot of things have to go well.
How Impressionist Berthe Morisot Painted Women’s Lives
Berthe Morisot never became as famous as her counterparts Claude Monet and Édouard Manet, but her work has an important place in art history.
The Mysterious Gynandromorph
Gynandromorphy is an extremely rare condition in which an animal is half male and half female. It's most visible in birds and butterflies.
The Monroe Doctrine’s Checkered Past
This 1823 policy initially focused on preventing European colonization in the Americas. But different U.S. presidents have used it to mean different things.
A Sense of Place for Toddlers
Young children have a unique sense of the world that can be difficult for grown-up architects to grasp.
The Memoirs of Catherine The Great
Catherine II ruled Russia for many years. She also wrote her own memoirs, in a time when such writing was considered inappropriate for a monarch.