The Effervescent History of Seltzer, From the Early Days of Home Delivery to Today’s Trendy Cans
A century before LaCroix or Spindrift were refrigerator staples, factories in New York City were carbonating gallons and gallons of tap water each day
The Chrysler Building Has Towered Above New York City for Nearly a Century. Now, the Art Deco Skyscraper Is for Sale
When it was completed in 1930, the 1,046-foot building was briefly the tallest in the world. In recent years, it’s fallen into disrepair
Meet This Year’s Winners of the Portrait of a Nation Award, Including Steven Spielberg and Temple Grandin
Portraits of the honorees, who have made “transformative contributions to the United States,” will be added to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery
Destinations Hit by Natural Disasters Need Tourists Back—but Maybe Not in the Same Way as Before
Places like Maui and Asheville, North Carolina, rebuilding after wildfires and hurricanes, are doing so with a mind to sustainable tourism
How the Irish Pub Became One of the Emerald Isle’s Greatest Exports
The Dublin-based Irish Pub Company has designed upwards of 2,000 pubs in more than 100 countries around the globe
Businesses Have a Lot to Learn From the Impromptu ‘Teaming’ That Happens in Theater
A Shakespeare scholar at Harvard University explains how the creative collaboration that happens in theater can be a model for companies developing innovative new products
How Cleaning Up Harmful Algal Blooms Could Help Fight Climate Change
A company called BlueGreen Water Technologies aims to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while also fighting algae’s toxic effects on people and the environment
On This Day in 1959, Alaska—One of America’s Riskiest Investments—Became the 49th State in the Union
Before Alaska became an American state, Russia invaded and subjugated its people for fur trading
How an Experiment to Amplify Light in Hospital Operating Rooms Led to the Accidental Invention of the Snow Globe
The origins of the decoration lie in Vienna’s 17th district, where the inventor’s descendants are still making them for collectors around the world
If You’re Nostalgic for Nokia, See the Devices That Defined ’90s Cellphone Design in a New Online Archive
The iconic brand’s mobile phones were pop culture mainstays. Soon, a new online archive will bring together thousands of documents, early models and design concepts
Scientists Are Trying to Crack the Recipe for the Perfect Plant-Based Eggs
With new ingredients and processes, the next generation of substitutes will be not just more egg-like, but potentially more nutritious
The Ten Best Books About Food of 2024
Travel to the American South, Vietnam and beyond with this year’s best cookbooks, memoirs and historic deep dives
From Jealous Spouses to Paranoid Bosses, Pedometers Quantified Suspicion in the 19th Century
The devices were used to track movement and measure productivity—an insightful foreshadowing of our current preoccupation with personal data
A Curious Industry Once Gave Anyone With a Song in Their Heart a (Long) Shot at Stardom
How the dubious tradition of song-sharking led to a strangely beautiful repository of folk art
Travelers Can Now Buy a Can of ‘100 Percent Authentic Air’ From Italy’s Lake Como
It’s not the first time savvy entrepreneurs have marketed canned air to tourists. Similar products have been sold at vacation destinations for decades
The Enterprising Woman Who Built—and Lost, and Rebuilt—a Booming Empire During the Klondike Gold Rush
With flinty perseverance and a golden touch, Belinda Mulrooney earned an unlikely fortune in the frozen north and reshaped the Canadian frontier
How Snake Oil Became a Symbol of Fraud and Deception
The terms “snake oil” and “snake-oil salesperson” are part of the vernacular thanks to Clark Stanley, a quack doctor who marketed a product for joint pain in the late 19th century
Will the Bistro Save France’s Rural Villages?
Because these social hubs are the glue holding communities together, a growing movement seeks to protect them on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list
The Supermarket Scanner Changed the Way We Buy Groceries Forever
Invented 50 years ago, the curious box deciphered an arcane kind of code to offer shoppers a trip into the future
The Contentious History of the Pop-Tart
In the 1960s, two cereal giants raced to develop a toaster pastry
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