natural history museums
How Fish Meant for Market Might End Up in a Museum
Natural history curators and fishers have a deep relationship.
All Stories
linguistics
Where the 'No Ending a Sentence With a Preposition' Rule Comes From
It all goes back to 17th-century England and a fusspot named John Dryden.
marijuana
Remembering 'Brownie Mary,' San Francisco's Marijuana Pioneer
She baked thousands of pot brownies for AIDS patients.
money
Found: A Wad of World War II Bills Worth Over $2 Million
The cash, discovered under an English retail store, is a priceless find.
ski
The Pioneering Mountain Climber and Skier Who Filmed Her Own Exploits
Her work is now available as part of a project to digitize home movies made by women.
rats
One District in Paris Is Creating a Map of Rat Sightings
The rodent map marks reports of animals both dead and alive.
engineering
One of the World’s Largest Steam Locomotives Is About to Make a Triumphant Return
Hold onto your engineer caps, railroad history lovers.
garbage
The Surprising Practice of Binding Old Books With Scraps of Even Older Books
For centuries, bookbinders commonly used whatever materials they could get—including entire manuscript pages.
christianity
An Island's Spiritual History, Documented in Haunting Photographs
Walking the trails to prayer on Japan’s Nozaki Island, once home to persecuted Christians.
art deco
Restoring Glasgow's Tea Rooms to Their Art Nouveau Glory
On the 150th birthday of its designer, a famed tea establishment reopens.
jazz
Found: A Lost John Coltrane Record
It's from sessions at New Jersey's Van Gelder Studio, the same place Coltrane made A Love Supreme.
royalty
How a Georgian Princess’s Cookbook Helped Build a Celebrated Restaurant
Struggling restaurateurs happened upon the feminist hero's culinary manifesto at a flea market.
lightning
Why Is It So Hard to Paint Lightning?
Capturing lightning on a canvas is just as difficult as it sounds.
elections
This Map Shows 42 Sites of British Suffragette Protest and Sabotage
They've all been officially recognized on the English National Heritage List.
printing
Rediscovering Lost Literary Treasures of the American Midwest
A small press is reviving forgotten—but newly relevant—writing about a complex region and its people.
eat like a...
Eating Like an Astronaut Means Kimchi for Koreans and Lasagna for Italians
What people eat in space depends a lot on where they’re from on earth.
civil war
The Racism of American Monuments Goes Well Beyond Confederate Statues
A new map of Civil War-related landmarks is only the beginning.
biology
Found: The World's Oldest Footprints, Made by Ancient Bugs
They are tiny but mightily impactful.
