History & Society

History & Society

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

tie shoes incorrectly
Math can explain why your laces spontaneously come untied — and how to stop it.
A woman reclining on a bed with a laptop, illustrating Gall's Law.
Functional complex systems arise from functional simple systems. Failing to heed this advice can and will lead to disaster.
use lasers keep track of moon nasa
For thousands of years, we puzzled at how far away the Moon was. Today we know its distance, at any time, to within millimeters.
A depiction of Jesus surrounded by angels, affirming the existence of God.
A philosophical debate spanning creation, free will, and a sneaky teapot.
Dante and Virgil on the frozen lake at the bottom of hell.
Dante’s epic journey through hell and heaven reveal how the poet felt about his own country.
Cuneiform writing on a stone wall.
It's like combining Google Translate with a time machine.
a large map of the world with all the countries.
When you turn a map of East Asia upside down, Beijing’s geographic constraints and regional ambitions become much clearer.
A detailed black-and-white illustration of a bearded man in profile view, wearing a decorated helmet and cloak, against a plain yellow background.
6mins
Knowing your key strengths can make you happy in anything you do. Here’s how to identify them.
Saturn and Saturn's rings JWST
While Saturn and its moons all appear faint and cloudy to JWST, Saturn's rings are the star of the show. Here's the big scientific reason.
two people of same gender standing next to each other.
Over the past two decades, the proportion of those who identify as bisexual increased from 1.2% to 4.5%.
a drawing of two ichthyosaurs in the water.
A marine reptile fossil from Svalbard challenges ideas about evolution and Earth’s greatest mass extinction.
A map showing the Columbian Exchange.
For better and worse, the Columbian Exchange plugged the Americas into the global system — and there was no going back.
an illustration of a hand holding a globe.
The crisis of the Anthropocene challenges our traditional narratives and myths about humanity's place in the world. Citizen science can help.
John Templeton Foundation
A black t-shirt featuring pictures of friends.
Since 2012, the amount of time that teenagers spend socializing in person has plummeted. Is it a coincidence that depression is more common?
overview effect
There's an entire Universe out there. So, with all that space, all those planets, and all those chances at life, why do we all live here?
a stone wheel with a hole in it.
They had the technology. So why didn't they use it?
A pi symbol is shown on a white background representing real mathematical concepts.
Is mathematics woven into the very fabric of reality? Or is it merely a product of the human mind?
a blue and white porcelain frame with a picture of a piece of wood.
Due to export controls from China, the Europeans had to invent their own forms of porcelain. One type involves dead cows.
a row of traditional chinese medicine bottles with different kinds of oil in them.
It is generally ineffective, occasionally poisonous, and driving numerous species to the brink of extinction.