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The Demonization of Empress Wu
"She killed her sister, butchered her elder brothers, murdered the ruler, poisoned her mother," the chronicles say. But is the empress unfairly maligned?
August 10, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
Why People Won’t Leave the Town that Has Been On Fire for Fifty Years
For the residents of Centralia, Pennsylvania, the fire that has been burning beneath their town for fifty years is part of what makes it home.
August 10, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Meet the First Woman to Referee an NFL Game
Shannon Eastin, the first woman to ever referee an NFL game, got her stripes last night.
August 10, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
New Wrinkle in Tarbosaurus Kerfuffle
The man who prepared an illicit tyrannosaur specimen claims that the dinosaur is rightly his
August 09, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
The History of the Exclamation Point
Everyone likes to complain that we're using too many exclamation points these days. Here's where the punctuation came from.
August 09, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Archaeologists Discover 1000-Year Old Hyper-Caffeinated Tea in Illinois
Unearthed from a site near modern day St. Louis, Missouri, archaeologists found tea residue in pottery beakers that dates back to as early as 1050 A.D.
August 08, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Iconic American Buffalo are Actually Part Cow
Though plains bison are icons of America's cowboy past and rugged West, new research findings show that most of the mighty buffalo have common cow ancestors from the 1800s.
August 08, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Old School Games Make a Comeback – How Arcades and Rubik’s Cubes Are Becoming Cool Again
In Brooklyn, you can drink beer while you do just about anything at some themed bar. Shuffleboard, darts, pool, mini-golf, horror movies, steampunk, old school arcade games; you name it and you can find it. And now the hipsters have an unlikely ally: Rubik’s cube obsessives. Together, this not-so-odd couple is bringing back the games [...]
August 08, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
The Swimsuit Series, Part 5: Olympic Athletes, Posing
Vintage styles cycle in and out of favor among medal-winning racers
August 08, 2012 |
By Emily Spivack
Julia Child’s Italian Tour: Angering Chefs and Riding on Motorcycles
Author Bob Spitz recounts his trip traveling through Italy with the culinary legend
August 06, 2012 |
By Leah Binkovitz
Landing Curiosity on Mars was Way Harder and Way Less Expensive than the Olympics
Landing a car-sized rover on a distant planet using a sky crane is really hard, and really awesome.
August 06, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
The Only Footage of Mark Twain in Existence
This silent film footage was taken in 1909 by Thomas Edison at Mark Twain's estate
August 06, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
170 Years of America’s Evolution In One Animated Gif
In one click, the drifting lines and changing colors take you through 170 years of history.
August 03, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
I Put Ice in My Wine Because You Don’t Serve it at the Right Temperature
Is there one perfect temperature to serve red or white wine? Perhaps not, but here are some good guidelines
August 02, 2012 |
By Kat J. McAlpine
The Double Dinosaur Brain Myth
Contrary to a popular myth, dinosaurs didn't have butt brains
August 02, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Old-Timey Olympians Show How Things Have Changed
Clendenin's photos evoke the feeling that for all the changes seen by the modern Olympic games, the athletes themselves could easily be transposed across time.
August 01, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
What the Heck is a Chork?
The new trend of modifying cutlery has a new look with the Chork, which combines the scandalous fork with age-old chopsticks to produce a seemingly more effective modern hybrid
August 01, 2012 |
By Ayesha Venkataraman
Read a 2007 Essay in Smithsonian by Gore Vidal, Last Writer of His Kind
Why more writers should be as fearless, and as prickly as Vidal.
August 01, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
"The Flying Housewife" of the 1948 London Games
Voted female athlete of the 20th century, Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals while pregnant with her third child
July 31, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Why Experts are Almost Always Wrong
No one, not even the experts, really knows what's about to happen.
July 31, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
