Quick Reads

Politics & History

Nellie Bly, Girl Reporter

A look back on Nellie Bly and the era of "stunt-reporting."

Painting of Ebinezer Elliot

Nineteenth-Century Rappers, Corn Laws, and the Rise of Free Trade

The strange intersection of corn laws, rap, poetry, and free trade.

Close-up of Carmen de Lavallade with her eyes closed and her arm bent over her head in a dance pose

83-Year-Old Carmen de Lavallade Dances at Kennedy Center

Dance icon Carmen de Lavallade, 83, was the first African-American prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera.

City Hall Station in New York with a symmetrical tiled pattern on the arches and ceiling

Politics & History

Rediscovering the Guastavinos

Rediscovering the Gustavinos contributions to architecture.

A lone creature among the sea plants underwater

Science & Technology

Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About Ocean Acidification?

Will ocean acidification disrupt the planet's ecosystem before climate change does?

A baby holding the finger of a caretaker

Education & Society

Making Child Support Work Better for Children

Do child support laws actually benefit children?

A mechanized dropper fills several vials at a time in a medical lab

“Stupidity Virus?” Not Quite

No, researchers did not find a so-called stupidity virus.

Kurdistan

Politics & History

Kurds: In the Middle of the Middle East

A brief history of Kurds and Middle Eastern politics.

Painting: Concert with Frederick the Great in Sanssouci by Adolph Menzel

Ain’t Misbehaving? When Audiences Distract The Performers

Should distracting live audience members be shamed for their behavior?

Stethoscope on top of a chest x-ray

Travel, Quarantine, and the Future of Tuberculosis

A 2007 tuberculosis case teaches us about contagion, travel, and quarantine.

Editors' Picks

James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni in Conversation

In 1971, two legends of Black letters discussed Black manhood, white racism, the role of the writer, and the responsibility to teach.

Science & Technology

Can We Build a Better Facebook?

Is it time to turn our back on Facebook? And if so, what social network could possibly replace it?

Science & Technology

The Anatomists of Ancient Alexandria

Cultural forces under the Ptolemaic dynasty briefly allowed scholars like Herophilus to practice dissection—and possibly vivisection—on human subjects.

Politics & History

The Genocide Before the Shoah

For a century, Jews in Turkey have maintained a strategic silence when it comes to recognizing the Armenian genocide. Could that be changing?

Politics & History

Wilhelm Reich: Twice Burned

A psychoanalyst and physician, Reich fled the Nazis only to be detained by the US as an “enemy alien” during World War II. And then came the sexual revolution.