Natural History

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The Bittersweet History of Sugar

From a rare treat to the crop that changed the modern world

Dec. 2025

Norman Sicily circa 1061–1194

Norman Sicily was a culturally diverse society that worked

Nov. 2025

An Undying Story

Every culture has its ghost stories

Oct. 2025

The Natural History of Condiments

Long-distance trade has given us a global marketplace of flavors

Sept. 2025

Games People Play

What’s the Universal Appeal?

July/Aug 2025

Sanctified Science

Medieval monks developed technologies that changed history

June 2025

How Surnames Came to Be

Naming across Cultures

May 2025

A Drug Deal Gone Bad

185 years later, the opium wars still shape global politics

April 2025

The Grandmother Effect

The Secret to Success

March 2025

Disgusting!

Our disgust response evolved to protect us

February 2025

Long-Distance Travelers

Not all those who wander are lost — J. R. R. Tolkien

December 2024 / January 2025

Secret of Secrets

Medieval Europe was an intellectual battleground of magic, science, and religion

November 2024

Bee Dependent

Our unrequited relationship

October 2024

Horse Warriors of the Great Plains

When European horses arrived on the Plains, they were coming home again

September 2024

Tails of Ancient Rome

Humans and dogs have been partners for over 10,000 years

September 2024

Stitches in Time

The impact of needles on civilizations.

June 2024

Hair Statements

Coifs tell the world who we are, or want to be.

May 2024

Moctezuma’s Revenge

Before the epidemics, Cortés was not a big threat to the Aztecs

April 2024

The Sounds of Ancient Music

The songs of the world’s first musical instruments would sound familiar to us.

March 2024

The Great Flood(s)

Flood myths reflect 10,000 years of rising sea levels

February 2024

Religions in Contact without Conflict

Judaism and Buddhism

December 2023 / January 2024

Mercury’s Promise and Poison

November 2023 This element was revered by almost all ancient civilizations

The Forest of Notre-Dame

October, 2023 Much of the cathedral’s underlying support is made of wood.

Acupuncture makes horse sense

The practice has never been for just humans

September 2023

Bloodletting

Four thousand years of bad medicine

July/August 2023

The Last Word

June 2023

The Invention of the City

Early cities worldwide followed remarkably similar patterns.

May 2023

Why We Alter Our Consciousness Evolving defenses against internal parasites may have taken a different trip

Feb. 2023

Astronomy’s Debt to Astrology

March 2023

The Transitory Appeal of Exotica

And the long-term consequences

December 2022/January 2023

How the Sun was Misplaced for 1,700 Years After Aristarchus of Samos proposed a heliocentric Solar System in 250 bce, other scholars moved Earth back to the center, where it remained until Copernicus.

November 2022

Gerbert de Aurillac: A Scientific Light in the Dark Ages

His work and his teaching influenced the European thinkers that followed in the Renaissance.

June 2022