Portrait of Carl Linnaeus, 1855

Was Carl Linnaeus Bad at Drawing?

Linnaeus has often been thought of as a poor artist, but visualization was a core element of his analytical tool set.
Illustration of Skylab with deployed parasol, ca. 1973

Skylab, Sealab, and the Psychology of the Extreme

During the Cold War, small groups of Americans lived together in space and at the bottom of the sea, offering psychologists a unique study opportunity.
Artist’s conception of early star formation:

When Everything in the Universe Changed

The revolutionary James Webb Space Telescope and next-gen radio telescopes are probing what’s known as the epoch of reionization.
Nature Morte Aux Citrons, 1918 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

When French Citrus Colonized Algeria

The citrus industry in Algeria honed French imperial apparatuses and provided a means for France to define and shape the behavior of its colonial subjects.
Radiation Effects Research Foundation Hiroshima

Biobanking the Victims of Nuclear War

Nearly 2 million biological samples from people affected by radiation from World War II nuclear bombings are stored in facilities in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Onlookers gaze upon and photograph the Northern Lights at Chanticleer Point Lookout on the Columbia River Gorge in the early morning hours of May 11, 2024 in Latourell, Oregon

Aurorae and the Green of the Night Sky

On the historical hunt for the origin of the enigmatic green line in the spectrum of the aurora borealis.
Retro circle pattern

How Two Rebel Physicists Changed Quantum Theory

David Bohm and Hugh Everett were once ostracized for challenging the dominant thinking in physics. Now, science accepts their ideas, which are said to enrich our understanding of the universe.
A Spectro-Chrome, c. 1925

Colorful Lights to Cure What Ails You

Between 1920 and the 1960s, tens of thousands of people received treatment with a Spectro-Chrome to address various ailments.
The School of Athens (detail) featuring Euclid by Raphael

Data: Not Just Another Four-Letter Word

For early modern theologians, data were assumptions of truths for which there was no need for explanation. How things—and data—have changed.