Science

Sturmann Yanghis, a 17-year-old South African, was put on stage in America as a “wild savage.” Harvard claimed his remains when he died. Then they disappeared.

The two-volume ‘Codex of the Endangered Species Act’ takes a long look back — and forward.

Decisions about medical training and licensing in the 19th and early 20th century are still having an impact today.

The anthropologist helped popularize both techno-optimism and the concept of existential risk.

Asbestos was a miracle material, virtually impervious to fire. But as we fixed city fires in other ways, we came to learn about its horrific downsides.

These groups are invoking ACT UP's legacy to push for further deregulation of the FDA. Here's why they're wrong.

The American Ornithological Society says it will alter all human names of North American birds, starting with up to 80 species.

Three-quarters of a century before artificial intelligence concerns, rapid advances in automation prompted panic about mass unemployment—and radical solutions.

The rise and rise and rise of data.

In a century-long tradition, students at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania came together in solidarity to combat illness among their members.

Life as a Signal Corps weatherman was dangerous: besides inclement weather, they faced labor riots, conflicts with Native Americans, yellow fever outbreaks, fires, and more.

New dating methods have added more evidence that these fossils date to 23,000 years ago, pushing back migration to the Americas by thousands of years.

On the intertwined history of free speech law and media technology.

How the dream of air conditioning turned into the dark future of climate change.

A new book exposes effects of anti-Black myth-making and calls for an end to the family policing system.

Societies celebrate heroes and commemorate tragedies. But why is there so little public acknowledgment of environmental disasters?

A worldwide effort to heal damage to the ozone layer is showing early progress.

When I looked at the archives, I found a history hidden in plain sight.

The straightforward way in which Google answers this query is a case study in how new science becomes accepted as fact in the modern era of rapid communication.

In the years before Roe v. Wade, maternity homes in the United States housed residents who, upon giving birth, often relinquished their children for adoption.

Will our own elites perform any better than the rulers of Chaco Canyon, the Mayan heartland, and Viking Greenland?

The Peshtigo fire ran through 17 towns and killed more than 1,000. It was worsened by a dry season and extreme winds — not dissimilar to what happened in Maui.

The Smithsonian’s human brains collection was led by Ales Hrdlicka, a museum curator in the 1900s who believed that White people were superior.

In the 1960s, the government proposed the construction of two dams in the Grand Canyon, potentially flooding much of Grand Canyon National Park.

Turns out Oppenheimer’s boss lied, repeatedly, about radiation poisoning.

On this date 78 years ago, the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima. Survivors involuntarily provided key medical data for years, without receiving any help.

California cannabis breeding is at a crossroads.

What the history of the 1918 Flu Pandemic can help us understand about today's public health measures.

Dan Flores reminds us that modern North Americans still walk in the footsteps of our fellow animals.

The commander in chief's unexpected death in office 100 years ago fueled decades of conspiracy theories but was most likely the result of a heart attack.