July 14, 2023

The Battle of the Skirt

How Flappers Transformed the Fashion Industry

Han Yu

I can show my shoulders, I can show my knees; I’m a free-born American And can show what I please. *** On August 23, 1923, the Parent Teachers Association of Somerset, Pennsylvania, gathered for a solemn task: petition the school...

July 12, 2023

Q&A: Vincent M. Figueredo on The Curious History of the Heart

The heart. To some, it is a mere blood pump powered by the brain. To others a symbol of love and health—an important piece of cultural iconography. But to cardiologist Vincent M. Figueredo, the human heart is his life’s work....

July 7, 2023

Sergio Almécija in Conversation with Robyn Massey About Humans

In a career that has spanned more than twenty years, Dr. Sergio Almécija has dug up fossils in Europe, visited museum collections all over the world, and, more recently, studied living apes in their natural environments in Africa and Asia....

July 5, 2023

Why Neandertals Were Not Intellectually Inferior to Cro-Magnon

Trenton Holliday

The idea of a world inhabited by several human species feels more like science fiction than science fact because there is only one human species—Homo sapiens—alive. Yet for the bulk of our evolutionary history, multiple human species did coexist, with...

June 28, 2023

The New Science of Smarter Schools

Angus Fletcher

What if schools trained only half our intelligence? What if the half that schools neglected was the half that innovates technology, revolutionizes science, and nurtures democracy? What if it was the half that helps guide emotion, increasing empathy and courage...

June 23, 2023

Diverse Voices and Intersectional Approaches

Hanna Askarpour

As we move into July, the excitement of summer starts to wear off. An air-conditioned apartment suddenly seems more exciting than soaking in the sun, and a book on the couch much more compelling than a Twitter scroll in a...

June 14, 2023

15 Must-Read Books for Pride Month 2023

Every June, we come together to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and carry forward the legacy of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. These 15 books both provide insight into the enduring challenges faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community and explore the...

June 13, 2023

How Mapping the Black Experience Will Shape Society for a Better Future

Olive Vassell and Natasha A. Kelly

“If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.” With these words, writer James Baldwin captured the essence of the power of remembrance and commemoration: practices that unite and empower us, providing opportunities...

June 12, 2023

Ten Must-Read Books for Juneteenth 2023

June 19th, or Juneteenth, commemorates the 1865 proclamation for the freedom of enslaved people in Texas, but it also has come to broadly celebrate Black American culture and the continuing fight by Black Americans for liberation and equality. The books...

June 7, 2023

Beethoven’s Music

Genius, Curiosity, Liver Disease, and Lead

Larry S. Sherman and Dennis Plies

In our book, Every Brain Needs Music: The Neuroscience of Making and Listening to Music, we discuss the contributions of curiosity to creating music. Curiosity is a trait that can be described as “a state of information seeking that can...

June 1, 2023

Q&A: Patrick J. Charles on Vote Gun

Today, gun control is one of the most polarizing topics in American politics. However, before the 1960s, positions on firearms rights did not necessarily map onto partisan affiliation. What explains this drastic shift? In Vote Gun: How Gun Rights Became...

May 31, 2023

Oonagh McDonald on Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin burst on the scene in 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis when trust in the Federal Reserve and financial institutions was at an all-time low. It appeared to offer a new kind of payment without any intermediaries—a...