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History & Society
Trace how culture, power, and ideas shape societies across time.
Across a variety of industries, trust and “upside-down management” have paid dividends.
The Human Chronome Project finds that the average human sleeps for 9 hours but only works for 2.6 hours.
The most iconic "dark nebula" of all lights up under JWST's infrared gaze. Here's what's newly discovered inside.
If the past is any guide, things are going to take off quickly.
A battle between different kinds of love.
Voltaire's wonderful satire, Candide, remains a useful work-life antidote to bogus platitudes and naive optimism.
11mins
Humanity has two giant collisions to thank for its existence, explains biologist Sean B. Carroll.
"Values emphasizing tolerance and self-expression have diverged most sharply, especially between high-income Western countries and the rest of the world."
The fellowship's journey through Middle-earth mirrors the modernization of the English countryside.
In general relativity, white holes are just as mathematically plausible as black holes. Black holes are real; what about white holes?
An interview with Lisa Kaltenegger, the founding director of the Carl Sagan Institute, about the modern quest to answer an age-old question: "Are we alone in the cosmos?"
From the earliest stages of the hot Big Bang (and even before) to our dark energy-dominated present, how and when did the Universe grow up?
At a fundamental level, only a few particles and forces govern all of reality. How do their combinations create human consciousness?
A human hand has the power to split wooden planks and demolish concrete blocks. A trio of physicists investigated why this feat doesn’t shatter our bones.
Although social paranoia is more common than clinical paranoia, studies suggests that American society isn’t any more conspiratorial than it has been in the past.
In the murder trial of Dan White, the defense touched on diet as a cause for White's actions. It has become known as the "Twinkie defense."
A poignant, 2,000-year-old burial in northern Italy could be the latest evidence of an ancient friendship.
Consumer debt shapes American lives so thoroughly that it seems eternal and immortal, but it’s actually relatively new to the financial world.
Beer before wine and you'll feel fine? Well, it depends.
For some reason, when we talk about the age of stars, galaxies, and the Universe, we use "years" to measure time. Can we do better?