Scholars
Leading intellectuals in the fields of history, philosophy and science
Your Last Chance to See a Blue Moon Until 2015 is Friday Night
The moon won't actually be blue in color, so where did this strange term originate?
August 29, 2012 |
By Joseph Stromberg
How Looking to Animals Can Improve Human Medicine
In a new book, UCLA cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz reminds us that humans are animals too. Now, if only other doctors could think that way
August 28, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Birmingham’s Smoking Dinosaurs
In 1938, awful dinosaurs roamed Birmingham, England
August 24, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
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
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 Double Dinosaur Brain Myth
Contrary to a popular myth, dinosaurs didn't have butt brains
August 02, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Sherlock Holmes and the Tools of Deduction
Sherlock Holmes’s extraordinary deductions would be impossible without the optical technologies of the 19th century
July 31, 2012 |
By Jimmy Stamp
A Brief History of Hidden Dinosaurs
Even though scientific interest in dinosaurs is relatively new, our species have been puzzling about the prehistoric creatures for centuries.
July 30, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
The Woman Who Took on the Tycoon
John D. Rockefeller Sr. epitomized Gilded Age capitalism. Ida Tarbell was one of the few willing to hold him accountable.
July 05, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
The DC Derecho of 2012
A devastating storm swept through Washington Friday night. By Saturday morning we were all left wondering, "what in the world had happened?"
July 02, 2012 |
By Sarah Zielinski
In the Steps of a Hungry Acrocanthosaurus
A special set of footprints may record a dinosaur attack in progress
June 28, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Are You Chatting With a Human or a Computer?
Converse with some of the world's most sophisticated artificial intelligence programs—and decide how human they seem
June 21, 2012 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Disease and the Demise of the Dinosaurs
Cataracts, slipped discs, epidemics, glandular problems and even a loss of sex drive have all been proposed as the reason non-avian dinosaurs perished
June 15, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Shovel-Beaked, Not Duck-Billed
A rare fossil shows that duck-billed dinosaurs were not so duck-like after all
June 14, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
The Dinosaurs They are a-Changin’
Paleontologists are describing new dinosaurs at an unprecedented pace, but there's much we still don't know about the biology of these animals
June 12, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Brontosaurus Returns
Paleontologists may have killed the dinosaur a century ago, but it was revitalized in the King Kong remake
June 05, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Run Out of Town on an Ass
According to legend, Queen Victoria, informed of an early president's angry insult to her ambassador, struck Bolivia off the map. But is it true?
June 04, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Fantastic Gliding Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus was as aerodynamic as a brick, but one writer thought the prickly dinosaur used its huge plates for gliding
May 30, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Tarbosaurus on Trial
An almost certainly poached tyrannosaur skeleton kicks off a legal dispute over Mongolia's fossil heritage
May 22, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
What Really Sparked the Hindenburg Disaster?
Seventy-five years later, opinions still vary on what caused the airship to explode so suddenly
May 10, 2012 |
By Joseph Stromberg
