History
Bird Poop Powered the Success of This Ancient Kingdom
“In ancient Andean cultures, fertilizer was power”
Edward Teller Tried to Move Mountains With Nuclear Bombs
The father of the H-bomb hoped to put these blasts toward civilian infrastructure
The Woman Who Paved the Way for IVF
Miriam Menkin didn’t achieve the same fame as her colleague John Rock, but the life-changing procedure wouldn’t be possible without her
Recreating the Smells of History
Using chemistry, archival records and AI, scientists are reviving the aromas of old libraries, mummies, and battlefields
How Richard Feynman Found the Root of the Challenger Disaster
The famed physicist’s persistence led him to uncover shocking failures
Did Edison Accidentally Create a Vital Superconductor?
In 1879, the inventor might have produced graphene, a crucial component of tech more than a century later
A Closer Look at an Elusive Ancient Plague
Teeth have revealed that victims traveled from far-off homelands
The Accidental Discovery of Aristotle’s Paradigm-Shifting School
The ancient institution shaped education as we know it today
Pompeii’s Early Baths Were Petri Dishes
Things improved with an impressive aqueduct system—if you don’t count lead contamination
