How the Chicken Conquered the World
The epic begins 10,000 years ago in an Asian jungle and ends today in kitchens all over the world
A 1989 prediction about portable GPS devices was right on the money
Reliving Shackleton’s Epic Endurance Expedition
Tim Jarvis’s Plan to Cross the Antarctic in an Exact Replica of the James Caird
The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine
The question was not “Should you eat human flesh?” says one historian, but, “What sort of flesh should you eat?”
The Case of the Sleepwalking Killer
The evidence against Albert Tirrell was lurid and damning—until Rufus Choate, a protegé of the great Daniel Webster, agreed to come to the defense
Billboard Advertising in the City of Blade Runner
Are Angelenos destined to be perpetually surrounded by super-sized advertisements?
The Magazine of the Future (on floppy disk!)
More than 20 years before the iPad, an entrepreneur saw the potential of interactive, digital magazines
Geronimo’s Decades-Long Hunt for Vengeance
Close by the Mormon colony of Colonia Dublan is an unlikely tourist attraction: the small hilltop where the legendary Apache leader exacted his revenge
During the First World War, Allied birds outperformed their rivals and saved thousands of lives–all thanks to the efforts of one London pigeon fancier
The Dalai Lama is one of the world’s most revered religious leaders, but that didn’t prevent four holders of the office from mysteriously dying
Salk, Sabin and the Race Against Polio
As polio ravaged patients worldwide, two gifted American researchers developed distinct vaccines against it. Then the question was: Which one to use?
In 1950, a popular magazine depicted what an atomic bomb would do to New York City—in gruesome detail
It is tempting to think of the German hyperinflation of 1923 as a uniquely awful event, but it pales in comparison to what happened in the 17th century
Document Deep Dive: What Does the Magna Carta Really Say?
A curator from the National Archives takes us through what the governing charter means
Moving is a lot easier if you live inside a giant ball
The Ottoman Empire’s Life-or-Death Race
Custom in the Ottoman Empire mandated that a condemned grand vizier could save his neck if he won a sprint against his executioner
Fighting Terrorism in the Future
A 1981 book predicted that the soldiers of the future could be more like heavily armed policemen than a fighting force
On Heroic Self-Sacrifice: a London Park Devoted to Those Most Worth Remembering
In 1887, a painter was inspired by an idea: commemorate the everyday heroism of men, women and children who had lost their lives trying to save another’s
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