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The Unsolved Mystery of the Tunnels at Baiae
Did ancient priests fool visitors to a sulfurous subterranean stream that they had crossed the River Styx and entered Hades?
October 01, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
California Bans ‘Cure The Gays’ Therapy
In California, it's no longer legal to try to cure homosexual youth
October 01, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
The Great New England Vampire Panic
Two hundred years after the Salem witch trials, farmers became convinced that their relatives were returning from the grave to feed on the living
October 2012 |
By Abigail Tucker
The World’s Most Famous Filing Cabinet
After Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, the notorious Plumbers broke into his psychiatrist’s office, looking for a way to discredit him
October 2012 |
By Owen Edwards
The CIA Burglar Who Went Rogue
Douglas Groat thought he understood the risks of his job—until he took on his own employer
October 2012 |
By David Wise
Kennedy After Dark: A Dinner Party About Politics and Power
In this exclusive transcript from the JFK library, hear what he had to say just days after announcing his candidacy for the presidency
October 2012 |
By Ted Widmer
The Regular Referees Are Back So We Can Start Hating Them Again
The regular N.F.L. referees have reached a deal and will return to officiating American's favorite contact sport
September 28, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
At American History, Meet the Composer of the Spanish Language National Anthem
From the Amazon River Basin to Madison Avenue, the woman behind the Spanish translation of the Star-Spangled Banner united the Americas
September 27, 2012 |
By Leah Binkovitz
It’s Now Legal for Early American Astronauts to Sell Their Space Toothbrushes
A new law lays out the details of who owns souvenirs from the early space era
September 27, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
The Silence that Preceded China’s Great Leap into Famine
Mao Zedong encouraged critics of his government—and then betrayed them just when their advice might have prevented a calamity
September 26, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Your State Border Might Not Be Where You Think
The boundaries of your state might not be as solid as you imagined
September 26, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
High School Students Hit a Forty Year Low on the SAT Reading Section
Over 50 percent of test takers scored below the level that would indicate college success, and scores from every single racial group but one (Asian) declined
September 25, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Five Banned Foods and One That Maybe Should Be
From maggoty cheese to My Little Ponies to roadkill, some illegal and one legal food items in the United States
September 25, 2012 |
By Leah Binkovitz
How the Football Field Was Designed, from Hash Marks to Goal Posts
The American football field as evolved over more than 100 years, and with it, the game
September 24, 2012 |
By Jimmy Stamp
Are Science Museums Going Extinct?
Will science museums survive when the topics they cover are invisible or impossibly far away?
September 24, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Orlon! Dacron! Antron! The Great American Knits of Fall 1965
As this old newspaper ad supplement shows, in the heydey of synthetic knits, DuPont advanced its chemically made fibers as a key to "Better Living"
September 24, 2012 |
By Emily Spivack
Did Dinosaurs Swim?
Carnivorous theropod dinosaurs were once thought to be hydrophobic, but rare swim tracks show that these predators at least sometimes took a dip in lakes and rivers
September 24, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Are Scientists Sexist? New Study Identifies a Gender Bias
A new study indicates that the gatekeepers of science, whether male or female, are less likely to hire female applicants to work in labs
September 24, 2012 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Here’s What Space Shuttle Endeavour Looked at While You Looked at Space Shuttle Endeavour
Here's what Endeavour saw during its #Spottheshuttle tour
September 24, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
America’s Issues with Voter Turnout Stretch Back More Than 200 Years
Since before the Revolutionary War, America has struggled with low voter turnout
September 21, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
