Kat Eschner

 

Kat Eschner is a freelance science and culture journalist based in Toronto.

A photo of Bill Clinton taken in 1993, the first year of his presidency.

Presidents Can Be Impeached Because Benjamin Franklin Thought It Was Better Than Assassination

The founding fathers struggled with the idea of whether the top leader should be impeachable

A modern flight data recorder, a.k.a. a "black box." Despite the name, these recorders are typically painted orange.

On This Day, The Black Box Proved Its Worth

The Park Slope plane crash was a tragedy, but it proved the importance of the flight data recorder

Bei Bei, the National Zoo's youngest giant panda cub, during a veterinary exam when he was less than three months old.

The Long, Adorable History of Pandas in America

Su Lin was the first giant panda to come to America, landing in San Francisco in 1936

Photo of Olivia de Havilland (left), Leslie Howard (center) and Vivien Leigh (right) from Gone With The Wind.

Why Do We Love Period Dramas So Much?

Gone With The Wind, the highest-grossing period drama ever, premiered on this day in 1939

The tea bag made it possible to brew a single cup of tea rather than a whole pot.

Ever Wonder Who Invented the Tea Bag?

Its two competing origin stories are linked by one thing: convenience

A VR image from behind the net in last week's Cleveland Cavaliers-Milwaukee Bucks game.

Why Basketball Is The Perfect Sport for Virtual Reality

James Naismith invented basketball on this day in 1891. He couldn’t have seen VR coming

Tycho Brahe was extremely wealthy and lived an unusual life that included a pet moose.

Astronomer and Alchemist Tycho Brahe Died Full of Gold

The shiny element was important to Renaissance scientists. Very important

Ellen Willis in upstate New York in 1970

One of the First Female Rock Critics Battled Sexism and Obscurity To Document the 1970s

Willis was The New Yorker’s first pop music critic, but to her, everything was open for criticism

People Have Spent Years Trying to Diagnose Mary Todd Lincoln From Beyond the Grave

Abraham Lincoln's wife has been called a "wildcat," "menstrual" and "bipolar" among other things

Robert Noyce (left) and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in from of the Intel SC1 building in Santa Clara, 1970.

Silicon Valley Owes Its Success To This Tech Genius You’ve Never Heard Of

Robert Noyce was one of the founders of Silicon Valley

A postcard of the Motel Inn, circa 1940s.

The World’s First Motel Was a Luxury Establishment, Not a Dive

The first motel was supposed to turn into a chain, but it was quickly overtaken by cheaper competitors.

Jasper Forest, a part of Petrified Forest National Park.

Another Weird Facet of America’s Strangest National Park: The Conscience Pile

People mail stolen rocks back to Petrified Forest National Park, but they can't be returned to their original sites

A Standard Stations filling station in California, circa 1939.

Leaded Gas Was a Known Poison the Day It Was Invented

For most of the mid-twentieth century, lead gasoline was considered normal. But lead is a poison, and burning it has had dire consequences

Jeanette Rankin, pictured here in 1917, was the first woman elected to Congress and the only person to cast a vote against entering World War II.

Only One Person Voted Against the United States Entering World War II

Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin's dedication to pacifism sprang from her personal brand of feminism

Lethal injection as a means to execute condemned prisoners was first used thirty-four years ago.

Thirty-four Years Ago, the First Person Died by Lethal Injection. It Was Controversial Then, Too

It was seen as more humane and relatively painless, but that's not certain

An early cotton-candy machine.

People at the 1904 World's Fair Paid Half the Price of Admission for a Box of Cotton Candy

Celebrating cotton candy's sugary, innovative goodness

The monument at sunset.

The Washington Monument Looks Like an Obelisk Because of Egyptomania

In the 1800s, America was desperate to look like it had been around for a while, so it was adopting old styles. Really old

Ever Wonder Why Encylopedia Is Sometimes Spelled Encyclopædia?

Scribes added the ash to the Roman alphabet so they could phonetically spell sounds that Latin didn't include

Feeling down? Many would reach for comfort food like pasta casserole—but you may as well go for a salad, research says.

Comfort Foods Aren't Magic, But Memory Might Be

On National Comfort Food Day (yeah it's a thing), dig into the powers of food and how it makes us feel

Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, in an undated photo.

When Women Weren't Allowed to Go to Harvard, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Brought Harvard to Them

Unlike other women's colleges of the day, the Annex was intimately connected with Harvard

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