Science

Elixir Sulfanilamide was a breakthrough antibiotic—until it killed more than 100 people.

The pandemic was the most lethal global disease outbreak since the Black Death. What were people thinking at the time?

One man’s obsession with the ephemera of his industry.

How an autism diagnosis became both a clinical label and an identity; a stigma to be challenged and a status to be embraced.

Doctors then, as now, overprescribed the painkiller to patients in need, and then, as now, government policy had a distinct bias.

Tesla created inventions that continue to alter our daily lives, but he died nearly penniless.

Two decades before the personal computer, a shy engineer unveiled the tools that would drive the tech revolution.

The Experimental City revisits the plan for a futuristic Minnesota city that would solve urban problems.

'The Population Bomb' made dire predictions—and triggered a wave of repression around the world.

What can making now tell us about the past? Or should the past remain untouched?

In 1752, the Brits and Americans lopped 11 days off the calendar in one fell swoop.

Characterizing artifacts’ odors provides insight on history and conservation.

It's probably further back than you think.

Henry Theophilus Finck sought to transform the modern United States, by appealing to Americans' tastebuds.

Across the cislunar blackness, we set sail for a landing that almost didn't happen.

It's been reviled and revered, criminalized and exploited by the CIA. And now and other psychedelic drugs are being tested as legitimate medical treatments.

Lighting, trash burning, powerlines, playing with matches – how do they rank as causes of wildfire?

Medicine’s dark history helps explain why black mothers are dying at alarming rates.

100 years ago, factory workers fought to hold companies accountable for their radium poisoning.

Vendors hawked the swill as “Pure Country Milk.”

When industrial fertilizer replaced dung heaps, its spoils helped fund the spread of plastics.

Considering astronomy's history from the shadow of the Arecibo Observatory reveals the discipline's intimate ties to imperialism.

A new report says the sugar industry pulled the plug on evidence linking sugar consumption to heart disease.

A visit with three of the last polio survivors in the U.S. who still depend on iron lungs.

How audience measurement became central to the creative and commercial development of television.

A profile of Hannah Mayer Stone, one of the key figures in the struggle to make contraception safe, effective, and widely available.

A reflection on the role of parasites in early American history.

What can past droughts tell us about tomorrow?

Unraveling the connections between public health and civil rights in 1960s New Orleans.

In his 2-million-word journal, the transcendentalist balanced poetic wonder and scientific rigor as he explored the natural world.