history
The carnival spirit was in full swing when the priests got wasted and made indecent gestures while dressed like pimps.
Science fiction met nuclear fission when Hungarian physicist Leó Szilárd pondered the explosive potential of nuclear energy.
Hybrid animals emerge when two different species from the same family reproduce. For many years, the kunga’s lineage was just another genetic mystery.
In numerous cultures worldwide, women were just as involved in bringing home the prehistoric bacon as their male counterparts.
Throughout history, hundreds — sometimes thousands — of people have been spontaneously compelled to dance until collapsing or dying from exhaustion. What explains this bizarre phenomenon?
No, Gandhi did not single-handedly bring about Indian independence. Pacifism alone usually gets you killed.
The biggest nuclear blast in history came courtesy of Tsar Bomba. We could make something at least 100 times more powerful.
Roosevelt had become president but not in the way he wanted. Still, he understood that he had been given the rare opportunity to make history.
A 2020 study revived a longstanding controversy over Christopher Columbus’ claims of marauding cannibals in the Caribbean.
Perhaps there was something theatrically satisfying about a learned man waving around a flask of pee, looking at it from all angles, sniffing it, and making bold proclamations.
People discovered prehistoric fossils long before Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species.” The remains of these unknown creatures often puzzled their discoverers.
Debate is a verbal sport with winners and losers. As such, it is less about the truth and more about who looks and sounds the best.
Dante’s epic journey through hell and heaven reveal how the poet felt about his own country.
It’s like combining Google Translate with a time machine.
When you turn a map of East Asia upside down, Beijing’s geographic constraints and regional ambitions become much clearer.
A marine reptile fossil from Svalbard challenges ideas about evolution and Earth’s greatest mass extinction.
For better and worse, the Columbian Exchange plugged the Americas into the global system — and there was no going back.
They had the technology. So why didn’t they use it?
Due to export controls from China, the Europeans had to invent their own forms of porcelain. One type involves dead cows.
After Albert Einstein’s death in 1955, a pathologist—searching for the secret of genius—removed, dissected, and ultimately stole the mathematician’s brain.
Is the vast “Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area” the final resting place of Genghis Khan?
Take a closer look before judging a book by its title.
On the menu: stews, cheese, and fermented drinks.
An insect? A vermin? An unwanted animal? What in the world is Franz Kafka talking about?
More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The documents that convicted the infamous traitor were all kept in this unassuming leather pouch.