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History & Society
Trace how culture, power, and ideas shape societies across time.
After a period of cosmic inflation came to an end, the hot Big Bang commenced. 13.8 billion years later, we arrived. Here's how we got here.
Oort cloud object Bernardinelli–Bernstein has the largest known cometary nucleus: 119 km wide. An impact with Earth would be catastrophic.
The family might be a terrible way to raise kids. But it's the best we have.
The road to emancipation began when enslaved Americans seized an opportunity for freedom and forced the nation to reckon with slavery's role in the Civil War.
From mysterious villages to absurdism at the gallows, these books explore the origins, consequences, and possible responses to nihilism.
Soccer emerged from chaotic folk games, elite school rivalries, and evolving rules that transformed a rough pastime into the beautiful game.
What would your company do if it lost all its customers at once?
Humans are naturally creative, but adulthood often teaches us to value productivity over play.
The modern playground was more than a place to play — it was a blueprint for a new kind of upbringing.
From early arcades to AI-generated worlds, video games have continually expanded the “magic circle” of play.
3mins
Older cultures made room for mourning. Today, we often rush it, and it comes with a cost. Three experts explain.
Unlikely Collaborators
Vague predictions and post hoc revisions help astrology feel meaningful, even while it fails empirical testing.
Why we shouldn't necessarily outsource our thinking to dead people.
Astronomers study our cosmic history through stellar and galactic archaeology. But we can't conduct archaeology in space. At least, not yet.
What the near-death experiences of daffodils can teach us about resilience, death, and becoming someone new.
A look at what could be if we ignore the doomers and make the most of AI.
Historian Jess Venner discusses how “critical fabulation” can help reveal the lived experiences of Pompeii’s voiceless residents.
Contrary to common experience, not everything needs a medium to travel through. Overcoming that assumption removes the need for an aether.
Gaeilge is trending culturally. So why is it, according to census data, also dying?
Long before today's debates, immigration was already transforming the American accent into something distinctively its own.