History & Society

History & Society

Trace how culture, power, and ideas shape societies across time.

Changes in the world population are determined by two metrics: the number of babies born, and number of people dying.
a map of volcanoes on Venus with different colored dots.
Like Mars today, Venus used to be a sci-fi superstar. Recent discoveries could re-ignite our interest in Earth’s “evil twin.”
a group of people sitting at tables under umbrellas.
It’s a lot easier to point out things that are gezellig (adjective) than it is to define gezelligheid (noun) itself.
an aerial view of a castle like area with mountains in the background.
Burj Al Babas may one day be full of wealthy vacationers, but for now it’s a ghost town in the center of Turkey.
A man sitting at a counter in a restaurant with friends.
The lack of friendship is particularly a problem for men. But there are easy ways to make friends.
a painting of a building with a red sky in the background.
Adolescents actively shape the transformation of religion and become the bearers of new religious patterns, worldviews, and values.
John Templeton Foundation
carl sagan in a laboratory
Science isn't synonymous with technology; it's about a way of thinking.
double slit experiments with electrons send one at a time
The double-slit experiment, hundreds of years after it was first performed, still holds the key mystery at the heart of quantum physics.
a woman sitting at a table with a chess board.
Chess could perhaps be the ultimate window through which we might see how our mental powers shift during our lives.
the night sky is filled with stars and trees.
For many years, some cosmologists embraced the idea of an eternal, steady state universe. But science triumphed over philosophical prejudice.
quantum superposition
With a massive, charged nucleus orbited by tiny electrons, atoms are such simple objects. Miraculously, they make up everything we know.
a picture of a blue planet with a black background.
Frozen adversity set the stage for an explosion of diversity.
a collage of photos of a man with a beard.
Unmasking a "convenient untruth" in U.S. politics.
In 1903, a Vermont doctor bet $50 that he could cross America by car. It took him 63 days, $8,000, and 600 gallons of gas.
a group of men riding on the backs of horses.
Mongol forces never fully conquered the continent, but they played a key role in its historical development.
a picture of a skeleton in the dirt.
It wasn't merely an act of brutality; it was a condemnation for the afterlife.
a spooky graveyard
Zombies aren't a modern-day obsession. Throughout history, fear of the undead led to bizarre burial rituals all over the world.