Harem Pool Jean-Léon Gérôme [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Other Orientalism: Colonialism in the Caucasus

For centuries, the Caucasus was to the Russian Empire what the Middle East was to the British and French: a savage land to be dominated and a romanticized Other against which Russia could define its own “European” identity.
Bears Ears National Monument

Who Doesn’t Like National Parks?

National parks and monuments have always been controversial, opposed by ranchers, farmers, resource, extractors, and small government conservatives. 
Sarah Webster Fabio

Sarah Webster Fabio: Mother of Black Studies

Poet, teacher, musician, and scholar of black literature, Sarah Webser Fabio, helped build a Black Arts movement on the West Coast.
Plimpton 322, Babylonian tablet listing pythagorean triples

The Advanced Mathematics of the Babylonians

The Babylonians knew their mathematics thousands of years before the Europeans.
Children playing in the schoolyard during recess.

Recess Matters

As schools cut recess from the curriculum, more and more research suggests that it's a vital part of a child's day.
Easter Card ca. 1907

The Easter Bunny, or, Why We Love Rabbits

The human fascination with rabbits, including the Easter Bunny, is long and deep. But why rabbits? 
Twisting a man's ears.

The Return of Torture

After being made illegal in the 19th century, why did torture return in the 20th century and why does it continue into the present?
Luise Adelgunde Victoria Gottsched

Traduttore, Traditore: Is Translation Ever Really Possible?

Translator, traitor, goes the Italian expression, although something may be lost in the translation.
Copernicus

Copernicus’s Body Identified by Stray Hair

Stuck in a book for centuries, strands of Copernicus's hair helped identify his body in 2005.
School of sardines

Peace and Quiet? Not Underwater

Fish, it turns out, are loud.