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History

The Force Was with Them

My generation of filmmakers shook up cinema forever. Where are history’s periodic surges of creativity taking us?

June 18, 2024

Magic Died When Art and Science Split

Renée Bergland’s 3 greatest revelations while writing Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science.

June 10, 2024

The Smartphone of the Middle Ages

An accident of lighting uncovers Jewish, European, and Islamic origins.

May 31, 2024

Is Christianity Based on Psychedelic Trips?

A radical theory that pagan cults gave rise to early Christianity.

May 30, 2024

The Age of Rebellion

The surprising relationship between age and success in rebellions.

April 23, 2024

The Feminist Botanist

A 19th-century tale of hermaphrodite flowers, Charles Darwin, and women’s right to vote.

April 22, 2024

The Prizefighters

If you want to know what it takes to succeed in science, head to the Nobel Prize ceremony.

April 8, 2024

What a Bronze Age Skeleton Reveals About Cavities

Here’s a hint: He didn’t eat processed foods and sugar.

April 4, 2024

Archaeology at the Bottom of the Sea

David Gibbins on his 3 greatest revelations while writing A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks.

April 2, 2024

The Women Who Found Liberation in Seaweed

How a shared love of algae got a community of women hooked on marine science.

March 27, 2024

History’s Five Best Body Part Stories

Charles I’s neck bone, Queen Victoria’s armpit, and other fabulously gruesome medical tales.

December 8, 2023

Tesla’s Pigeon

An inventor, a bird, and a plan to connect all the minds in the world.

December 6, 2023