Science

Wetlands absorb carbon dioxide and buffer the excesses of drought and flood, yet we’ve drained much of this land. Can we learn to love our swamps?

For years, the idea seemed immoral and dangerous.

The practice of vaccination in the U.S. cannot be divorced from the history of slavery.

Human relationships to this global crop have been shaped by both violence and resilience.

In 1897, the 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps embarked on a 1,900-mile journey from Montana to Missouri.

Resiliency and the ability to develop coping mechanisms may define our times.

Decade by decade, firearms have become deadlier—and tightened their grip on our collective imagination.

Poplar—ubiquitous in timber, landscape design, and Indigenous medicines—holds new promise in recuperating damaged ecosystems.

Scientists have found toxic levels of the chemical at large. And some groups are making the case to produce even more.

On Annie Payson Call’s advice to tired nineteenth-century workers.

New understandings of how disease spread informed Imogene Rechtin's ill-fated 1910 campaign to ban a universal human practice.

An 1860 census record offers a glimpse into the choices available to pregnant women who were enslaved.

Of all the objections NIMBYs raise to new housing and infrastructure, perhaps the most risible is that their community is already too crowded.

For decades, consumers were duped into believing that a fat-free food label would put them on track for weight loss, when the complete opposite was true.

On the women who kickstarted the ecological restoration movement in America.

Looking back on 150 years of history shows that American women grappled with miscarriages amid different legal, medical, and racial norms.

Decades of biological research haven't improved diagnosis or treatment. We should look to society, not to the brain.

The history of humans being confounded by color photography.

When horses gallop, do all four hooves ever leave the ground at once? This episode of The Disappearing Spoon recounts the saga that led to the answer.

The breeding of race horses validated those aspiring to belong to an American elite while feeding into racist beliefs about genetic inheritance.

Before Julia Child became a chef, she worked for the forerunner of the CIA in Washington, developing shark repellent during World War II.

The long history of concerns about masculinity — and attempts to enhance it.

Smell’s diffuse nature requires crossing the boundaries of several subfields within the historical discipline, but also moving beyond the boundaries of history alone.

To renew Yosemite, California should embrace a once-outlawed Indigenous practice.

A new book by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Andrew S. Curran examines how 18th-century academics understood Black identity.

Researchers create massive genealogical network dating back 100,000 years

Thoreau's time at Walden Pond has provided substantial data for scientists monitoring the effects of a warming climate on the area's plant life.

Uptake of COVID vaccines for kids has been slow, but it has been slow for other vaccines too.

The Underground Railroad conductor's understanding of botany, wildlife biology, geography and astronomy allowed her to guide herself and others to safety.

Shibutani, Haruo Najima, and Tomika Shibutani reported that the vaccination lines stretched as long as 200 yards. “The conditions were atrocious.”