Civil Rights and New Deal America, Bruno Latour, and Bad Environmentalism
New books and scholarship from University of North Carolina, Harvard University Press, and University of Minnesota Press.
What Monks Can Teach us about Managing our Work Lives
Medieval monks used labor-saving innovations like the mill not to increase productivity, but to free up more time for what they wanted to do.
How Forest Fires Work in Finland
Finland's forest fires aren't as destructive as California's. That has more to do with climate and population than with forest management.
Bees’ Thoughts, Disappearing Bugs, and Giant Snails
Well-researched stories from The Boston Globe, Pacific Standard, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Questions for the Age of Automation
Back in the 1960s, scholars were making predictions about what the Age of Automation would look like. Where they right?
What The War of the Worlds Had to Do with Tasmania
H. G. Wells's famous science fiction novel imagines what would happen if Martians did to Great Britain what Europeans did to Tasmania.
Indigenous Reserves and the Future of the Amazon
Swathes of the Amazon rainforest are set aside for Indigenous peoples to manage. While they aren't conservation areas, they are important to the ecosystem.
People Who Can’t Feel Pain
While exceptionally rare, congenital analgesia, or a total insensitivity to pain, is a real condition that can be quite dangerous.
Light Bulbs for Beauty
When electric lighting was first introduced to U.S. households, marketing departments tried to convince women that better lighting would be flattering.
Ai Weiwei’s Readymade: Politics
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been making political waves for decades, but his current shows are especially relevant to the United States.