history
We don’t know when or how music was originally invented, but we can now track its evolution across space and time thanks to the Global Jukebox.
De-extinction, if it is ever possible, will not be simple.
A vertical map might better represent a world dominated by China and determined by shipping routes across the iceless Arctic.
Climate activists’ brand of iconoclasm is far removed from the Beeldenstorm that swept medieval Europe.
The spikes in their mouths would have helped them catch squid or fish.
“Tristram Shandy” trolled its way to fame.
A new study says the reason cave paintings are in such remote caverns was the artists’ search for transcendence.
Like Dua Lipa, he had to create new rules.
A conservator from the Rijksmuseum explains how they went about investigating whether the painting is a genuine Rembrandt.
All roads may not lead to Rome, but many of them lead to wealth and prosperity — even 1,500 years after the fall of the Roman Empire.
A 19th-century surveying mistake kept lumberjacks away from what is now Minnesota’s largest patch of old-growth trees.
Mahāyāna is the most popular type of Buddhism in the world today.
The quantum world is one in which rules that are completely foreign to our everyday experience dictate bizarre behavior.
Leftover Cold War-era bunkers are still kept in a state of readiness to protect the population from nuclear war.
The word “turkey” can refer to everything from the bird itself to a populous Eurasian country to movie flops.
Is science for everyone, or just the morally upright?
Population growth is driven by three changes: Fertility, mortality, and migration.
You don’t have to be an emperor to apply these rules to daily living.
Its apples taste bad, but institutions all over the world want a descendant or clone of the tree, anyway.
What began as public outcry against Iran’s so-called morality police has snowballed into a mass movement targeting the very essence of the Islamic republic.
For centuries, the only way to travel between the Old and New World was through ships like the RMS Lusitania. Experiences varied wildly depending on your income.
Bathybius haeckelii was briefly thought to be the link between inorganic matter and organic life.
From Atlantis to Thule, these mythical locales have captivated people’s imaginations for centuries.
“Oosouji” or “big cleaning” is much more than a chance to tidy up.
The Knights Templar were not only skilled fighters, but also clever bankers who played a crucial role in the development of Europe’s financial systems.
About 8% of our genome is made of leftover viruses from our ancestors’ infections.
Marcus Tullius Cicero is widely regarded as one of the most gifted orators in human history. His writings can teach us a lot about the lost art of public speaking.
