History

Mysterious Mercury; spiders predict the weather

A mountaintop burial site offers a glimpse into Inka life—but raises ethical questions about unearthing ancient human remains.

A play celebrates the agreement that opened nations worldwide to accepting the science of climate change

Archaeoastronomers piece together how people understood the heavens thousands of years ago.

Physicist Jess Wade explains the importance of recognizing female scientists on Wikipedia. She’s created more than 2,000 Wikipedia articles to do just that

A group on the islands of Penghu is restoring ancient fishing weirs, hoping to preserve the sustainable fishing practice and attract ecotourism.

Despite progress, the long shadow of racial violence continues to undermine economic opportunities for African Americans today

Trump’s language about immigrants “poisoning” the U.S. repeats past rhetoric that led to civilian detention camps, with horrific, tragic results

Find new ways to fill the long summer days with these quick primers on 10 ancient games

From ancient clay tablets to TV shows to video games, the U.S. Library of Congress preserves far more than just books

The gooey, chocolatey s’more couldn’t have been popularized without the technological advances of the Industrial Revolution, which brought cheap sweets to the masses

Death rays; the sawfly’s barf defense