Suggested Readings: Dangerous Biology, Cyborg Futures, and Emotional Learning
Well-researched stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.
How America Tried (and Failed) to Solve Its “Servant Problem”
In the early part of the twentieth century, most middle-class American homes had at least one servant. Then the "servant problem" arose.
The Backfire Effect
The backfire effect is when people double-down on their beliefs even when these beliefs are shown to be factually incorrect.
The U.S. Representative Who Tried to Outlaw War
Jeanette Rankin was the first woman to become a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. And she once tried to outlaw war.
P.G. Wodehouse, Great American Humorist?
Should P.G. Wodehouse, creator of the ditzy Wooster and inimitable Jeeves, be considered an American humorist as well as a master of British farce?
Will Robots Replace Human Doctors?
What do advances in AI, VR, and robotics mean for doctors? In the case of medicine, perhaps it's better to ask what technology can't do.
Speaking for the Trees
David George Haskell's book The Song of the Trees: Stories From Nature's Great Connectors, explores trees' connections with various communities.
How Little League Prepares Kids for Work
Little League baseball as we know it is result of child development theory and practices in America's heartland in the years directly after World War II.
Buying Alaska
It’s the 150th anniversary of the Alaska Purchase. Why did the Americans want all that ice and why were the Russians willing to sell?
Did Victorians Really Get Brain Fever?
The melodramatic descriptions of "fevers" in old novels reveal just how frightening the time before modern medicine must have been.