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Science History

Project Needles: When the US Seeded Space With Hundreds of Millions of Tiny Needles
The Pioneer Probes Plaque, and the Controversy About Sharing Earth’s Address With the Universe
Shinichi Fujimura: The Rock Star Archaeologist Exposed as Archaeology’s Biggest Fraud
Humbug Billy and the 1858 Bradford Sweets Poisoning: A Disaster That Shocked – and Transformed – Britain
The Zanclean Flood: When a Dried Out Mediterranean Suddenly Refilled in a Massive Megaflood
Pig Domestication – From Wild Boars to Humanity’s Most Dependable Meat Source
The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake: The Natural Disaster that Fueled the Enlightenment
Typhoid Mary, and How Far Government Can Go to Protect Public Health
The Men Who Made Ancient Athens: Plato, the Western World’s Most Influential Philosopher
Greek Fire: The Medieval Secret Weapon that Saved the Byzantine Empire
Frances Glessner Lee, the ‘Mother of Forensic Science’ Who Revolutionized Criminal Investigations
Like His Cat That Was Both Dead and Alive, Erwin Schrodinger Was Both a Genius and a Monster
Trofim Lysenko: Stalin’s Favorite Biologist, and His Quack Pseudoscience That Killed Millions
The War of the Currents: Nikola Tesla’s Revenge on Thomas Edison
The Devastatingly Deadly 1918 Philadelphia Parade That Was Held in the Middle of a Pandemic
How Horse Domestication Revolutionized Humanity and Sped Up History
Dromomania: The Uncontrollable Travel Phenomenon That Swept Nineteenth Century France
The Vulture War: When Naturalists Fought Over How Buzzards Find Food
Einstein’s Miracle Year: He Revolutionized Science in a Few Months When He Was Twenty Six
Spirituality Accidentally Led Scandinavian Bladesmiths to Steel Swords
Petr Mikhailovich Borisov, the Soviet Scientist Who Wanted to Melt the Arctic Ice Cap
Ignaz Semmelweis, the Doctor Whose Discovery Revolutionized Medicine, Saved Millions – and Made His Colleagues Hate Him
The Neolithic Revolution, Part XI: Humankind’s Greatest Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution, Part X: Humanity Benefited Greatly From the Switch to Farming, But it Came at a High Cost
The Neolithic Revolution, Part IX: Early Farmers Enjoyed a Bonanza, But it Became a Borderline Bust for Their Descendants
Ancient Physicians Swore by Crocodile Dung Contraceptives and Poop as Medicine
When Exxon-Mobil’s Predecessor Bragged About Melting Glaciers
The Neolithic Revolution, Part VIII: Was It Wheat That Domesticated Humans, Instead of the Other Way Around?
Rosalind Franklin: The Unsung Heroine of DNA Discovery
President John Quincy Adams Thought Earth Was Hollow, and Backed an Expedition to Trade With the Mole People
The Neolithic Revolution, Part VII: Was it Actually Beer, Not Bread, That Motivated Hunter Gatherers to Become Farmers?
The Ancient Romans Cleaned Their Teeth and Clothes With Urine
Thomas Jefferson’s George Costanza Moment: Shipping a Rotting Moose to France to Win an Argument
The Neolithic Revolution, Part VI: Did the Discovery of Bread Cause the Shift From Hunter Gathering to Farming?
Lucky Mistakes: Sloppiness Led to a Medical Discovery That Saved Millions of Lives
Folklore and Mythology: The Origin of Dragons
The Neolithic Revolution, Part V: Newly Emergent Farmers Had to Work a Lot Harder Than Hunter Gatherers
Victorians Feared that High Train Speeds Might Make Women’s Uteruses Fly Out of Their Bodies
The Neolithic Revolution, Part IV: The Domestication of Sheep and Goats
Swords From Around the World: The Ancient Chinese Jian, “The Gentleman of Weapons”
The Neolithic Revolution, Part III: When Prehistoric Hunter Gatherers Depleted the Available Resources
Pythagoras Invented a Special Cup to Prank – and Punish – Greedy Wine Drinkers
The Neolithic Revolution, Part II: When Humans Got Too Good at Hunting
Did a Real Life Natural Disaster Inspire the Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah Narrative?
The Neolithic Revolution: Why Did Humans Switch From Wandering Hunter Gatherers to the Settled Life of Farmers?
Piltdown Man: One of History’s Most Devastating Science Pranks