Book Review: Refrigeration and the Many Virtues of the Cold Chain
Nicola Twilley’s "Frostbite" explores how refrigeration has shaped everything over time from our guts to economies.
history
Brutal birth
Indonesia’s emergence was both more violent and more pioneering than commonly imagined
“The Woman Who Came From the Sky” — Meet Valérie André, the World’s First F
“As a doctor, she had already faced misogyny in the French medical corps. But she persevered. It would be no different for her as a rescue pilot.” By Charles Morgan Evans AT A remote French...
Records of Pompeii’s survivors have been found – and archaeologists are sta
The story of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius is no longer one of annihilation; it also includes the people who managed to escape the city.
For the First French Town Liberated on D-Day, History Is Personal
Some aging residents of Ste.-Mère-Église in Normandy can still recall the American paratroopers who dropped into their backyard. It’s been a love affair ever since.
Why Leopold and Loeb Committed Cold-Blooded Murder in the 'Crime of the Century'
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A century ago, two Chicago teenagers killed an acquaintance named Bobby Franks for the thrill of it. The case captivated the nation and continues to fascinate the public today
A ‘plague’ comes before the fall: lessons from Roman history
Just 50 years after the Roman Empire grew to its largest size, a mysterious and crippling pandemic known as the Antonine plague brought it to its knees. Research on climate change and in other areas is shedding light into how the plague, which preceded centuries of decline…
The Country Bumpkins who gave us Parisian Café Culture
The Country Bumpkins who gave us Parisian Café Culture - Editor's Picks - Messy Nessy Chic
You Can Still Die From World War I Dangers in France's Red Zones
The Great War never ended in some old battlegrounds.
Searching for the Cause of a Catastrophic Plane Crash | The New Yorker
On a calm, clear day, USAir Flight 427 suddenly nosedived and smashed into the earth, killing everyone on board. A team of investigators quickly assembled to sift through the rubble.
The Ruthless Rise and Fall of Paramount Pictures During Hollywood’s Golden
The venerable movie studio, now up for grabs, once defined the industry's zeal for consolidation, pioneering vertical integration and serving as the model for each of its major rivals.
Alderney Is a Small Island With a Dark History
It’s 10 miles from France, but Alderney feels like a windswept remote haven. During World War II, Nazi atrocities happened on its soil.
Manhattan or Pulau Rhun? In 1667, Nutmeg Made the Choice a No-Brainer.
Growing a spice once worth its weight in gold, a tiny isle in Indonesia was so coveted that the Dutch traded Manhattan for it. Some 350 years later, life on the two islands couldn’t be more different.
In Ancient Bones, a Reminder that Northern Ireland’s Ghosts Are Never Far
When skeletal remains surfaced in Northern Ireland last year, the discovery was shaded with a discomforting question: Was this an archaeological site, or a crime scene?
In Defense of the Rat
Rats are less pestilent and more lovable than we think. Can we learn to live with them?
The Rise and Fall of the ‘IBM Way’
What the tech pioneer can, and can’t, teach us
Has Amelia Earhart’s plane really been found?
Claims that a recent undersea discovery may be Amelia Earhart’s long-lost aeroplane raise questions. Experts weigh in on the mystery that continues to captivate us.
Ada Blackjack Kept Going After Everyone Else on Wrangel Island Died
Ada Blackjack was an Iñupiaq woman who married at 16 and had three children before her husband abandoned her. Only one child survived infancy, and he suffered from tuberculosis. Blackjack walked 40 miles to Nome, Alaska, carrying her son Bennett in order to place him in…
What Happened to the US Machine Tool Industry?
Machine tools – machines that cut or form metal – are the heart of industrial civilization.
The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives
In this deep-dive explainer, we look at a big-business mainstay.
How unearthing diseases' ancient origins could help produce modern cures
The DNA of bacteria and viruses that infected humans thousands of years ago is still trapped in their skeletal remains. Scientists are finding out what we can learn from them.
The Race to Catch the Last Nazis | GQ
A lifetime after the Holocaust, a few of its perpetrators remain at large. German detectives are making a final push to hunt them down.
Lost Languages Discovered in One of the World’s Oldest Continuously Run Lib
The centuries-old texts were erased, and then written over, by monks at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt
Roundtable
The Pandemic Your Grandparents Forgot - Nautilus
Sixty years later, will anybody have heard of COVID-19?
Miscellanies
The Elusive, Maddening Mystery of the Bell Witch - Atlas Obscura
A classic ghost story has something to say about America—200 years ago, 100 years ago, and today.
With the help of new archaeological approaches, our picture of young lives
With the help of new archaeological approaches, our picture of young lives in the Palaeolithic is now marvellously vivid
Demon Core: The Strange Death of Louis Slotin - The New Yorker | The New Yo
There was a flash of blue and a surge of radioactive heat. Nine days later, Louis Slotin was dead.
Baseball cap history and timeline
The Official Site of Major League Baseball
One Of Rome’s Most Devastating Military Defeats Was Masterminded From Withi
Having served in the Roman army under a risky conscription scheme, Arminius's ambush in Teutoburg Forest inflicted massive damage to the Empire.
Why the concept of invisibility so captivates the imagination | Psyche Ideas
From ancient fables to the latest science theory, invisibility represents some of humankind’s deepest fears and desires
The Titanic of the Pacific - The Atavist Magazine
A tale of disaster, survival, and ghosts.
The stories of oral societies aren’t myths, they’re records | Aeon Essays
The stories of oral societies, passed from generation to generation, are more than they seem. They are scientific records
How America's Beloved Meyer Lemon Caused a Mid-Century Citrus Panic
The fragrant fruit hid a dark secret.
The Astounding Origins of Chaco Canyon Timber
Chaco Canyon Great Houses have timber of more than 200,000 massive log beams. Where Ancestral Puebloans got the wood is no longer a mystery.
Retail and Shopping: Vintage Photos Show How People Shopped in the 1960s an
The 1960s and 1970s were a time of significant change in the world, and the shopping and retail culture of these decades reflected this social transformation.
50 Ways the World is Getting Better
The world is getting better (even if you can't see it on a daily basis).
What Really Happened After the Mutiny on the Bounty?
On November 28, 1787, His Majesty’s Armed Vessel Bounty set sail from England with 46 men aboard, bound for the island of Tahiti in the South Pacific. Commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh, her mission was to collect and deliver breadfruit plants to the West Indies, where they…
Where Did Writing Come From?
The rise, fall, and rediscovery of cuneiform
Crime of the Centuries
Tomb raiders, crooked art dealers, and museum curators fed billionaire Michael Steinhardt’s addiction to antiquities. Many also happened to be stolen.
Beyond Borders: Adolfo Kaminsky’s Forgeries
Kaminsky bought chemistry books from bouquinistes along the Seine and taught himself to make explosives. But when a man...
The brief but shining life of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a poet who gave dignity to the Black experience
Paul Laurence Dunbar became the first Black writer to earn international acclaim through his poetry, essays and musical lyrics.
Meet the Man Collecting Fading Place Names
What do we lose when we forget about locations like "Troll's Cave" and "Window Claw"?
Why don't humans have fur?
Most mammals, including our closest living relatives, have fur. So why did we lose ours?
The Military Adventures of Alexander the Great: An Animated Documentary Sho
To learn about history is to learn about war, or so it can feel when you go far back enough in time. And in any era of antiquity, few could have matched Alexander the Great's mastery of that art.
The Tunguska Mystery--100 Years Later
Finding a piece of the elusive cosmic body that devastated a Siberian forest a century ago could help save Earth in the centuries to come
The Grammarphobia Blog: Why the ‘w’ is called a ‘double u’
The 23rd letter of the English alphabet is called a “double u” because it was originally written that way in Old English.
The blast furnace - 800 years of technology improvement
The modern world uses shocking amounts of steel.
Why are flood myths so common in stories from ancient cultures around the world?
Could the prevalence of flood myths around the world tell us something about early human migration or even the way our brains work?