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Reckless Breeding of the Unfit: Earnest Hooton, Eugenics and the Human Body of the Year 2000
A future America, populated by horse-faced, spindly giants with big feet
February 12, 2013 |
By Matt Novak
This Gun Shoots Criminals With DNA
This new gun shoots the bad guys with artificial DNA, that can then be traced back and identified
January 29, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
After Millennia of Heavy Use, Mercury Gets the Boot
From an Elixir of Life to the Philosopher's Stone, mercury's long legacy is coming close to an end
January 22, 2013 |
By Colin Schultz
Brits Are Allowed To Insult Each Other Once More
For the past 27 years, it's been against the law for Brits to insult each other
January 16, 2013 |
By Colin Schultz
The Candor and Lies of Nazi Officer Albert Speer
The minister of armaments was happy to tell his captors about the war machine he had built. But it was a different story when he was asked about the Holocaust
January 08, 2013 |
By Gilbert King
The Children Who Went Up In Smoke
A tragic Christmas mystery remains unsolved more than 60 years after the disappearance of five young siblings
December 25, 2012 |
By Karen Abbott
The Day Henry Clay Refused to Compromise
The Great Pacificator was adept at getting congressmen to reach agreements over slavery. But he was less accommodating when one of his own slaves sued him
December 06, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Why Mass Incarceration Defines Us As a Society
Bryan Stevenson, the winner of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in social justice, has taken his fight all the way to the Supreme Court
December 2012 |
By Chris Hedges
The Fight that Wouldn’t Stay Fixed
How an apparent misunderstanding led to a brawl that turned into a donnybrook that became a legend
November 15, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Twenty Seasons of Law And Order by the Numbers
There are 456 episodes of Law and Order, and for the past two years Overthinking It has been crowdsourcing a list of how each one ended.
November 15, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Geronimo’s Appeal to Theodore Roosevelt
Held captive far longer than his surrender agreement called for, the Apache warrior made his case directly to the president
November 09, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Italian Scientists Sent to Jail Because They Downplayed the Risk of an Earthquake
Six scientists and one former government official will do time for failing to accurately convey the risk of an earthquake
October 22, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
A New Great Depression and Ladies on the Moon: 1970s Middle School Kids Look to the Year 2000
The ideal future according to a ten-year-old: shorter school days, lower taxes, and lots and lots of robots
October 12, 2012 |
By Matt Novak
Forensic Chemist Who Helped Put Hundreds in Jail Pleads the Fifth to Fraud Charges
What might have been be a standard academic fraud case is complicated by the fact that the scientist isn't just any chemist, she's a forensic chemist
October 11, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Tree Gangsters Are Killing the Rainforest
Organized criminal syndicates are responsible for most illegal logging, which accounts for up to 30 percent of timber traded globally
October 03, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
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
The Copper King’s Precipitous Fall
Augustus Heinze dominated the copper fields of Montana, but his family's scheming on Wall Street set off the Panic of 1907.
September 20, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Cartoons of Mohammed, Anti-Jihad Subway Ads and Other Provocations, Past and Future
Today, as protests continue across the Muslim world in reaction to a translated movie trailer posted on YouTube, French Magazine Charlie Hebdo announced that it was publishing cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad
September 19, 2012 |
By Mary Beth Griggs
The Blazing Career and Mysterious Death of “The Swedish Meteor”
Can modern science determine who shot this 18th century Swedish king?
September 17, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Ugliest, Most Contentious Presidential Election Ever
Throughout the 1876 campaign, Tilden’s opposition had called him everything from a briber to a thief to a drunken syphilitic
September 07, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
