ScienceBiology

A Black Biologist Pioneered Animal Intelligence Research, but His Work Was Buried

Black biologist Charles Henry Turner was doing groundbreaking research into animal cognition at the turn of the 20th century, yet his ideas never gained traction on account of racism and his seemingly radical viewpoint. Many concepts proposed by Turner are now accepted science, and a group of researchers to say it’s long past time to … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Learn All About the History of Rockets in Just Four Minutes

Diehard fans of space exploration, rejoice! That pseudonymous foul-mouthed mastermind, exurb1a, who gave us the universe in just four minutes, is back with an irreverent video tackling the colorful history of rocket science. It’s set to the tune of “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates … Continued

SciencePhysics & Chemistry

Engineer Discovers Something Amazing in Da Vinci’s ‘Irrelevant Scribbles’

Never assume that Leonardo Da Vinci’s doodles are meaningless. That, at least, is the takeaway of a new study out of the University of Cambridge, which shows that a page of Leonardo’s scribbled notes from 1493—previously dismissed as “irrelevant” by art historians—is actually the first written demonstration of the laws of friction. It is widely … Continued

Tech News

This Babylonian Astronomy Text Changes History

More than a thousand years before the first telescopes, Babylonian astronomers tracked the motion of planets across the night sky using simple arithmetic. But a newly translated text reveals that these ancient stargazers also used a far more advanced method, one that foreshadows the development of calculus over a thousand years later. It’s a well-known … Continued

Tech News

Princesses, Slaves, and Explosives: The Scandalous Origin of Vaccines

The history of inoculation may sound a little dry, but it’s really an epic tale of human trafficking, semi-illicit experimentation, and high explosives. It’s a globe-hopping story that stars harem girls, noblewomen, prisoners, princesses, slaves, and even a witch hunter. In the Shadow of Smallpox Smallpox has troubled humanity for thousands of years. Wherever we’ve … Continued

Tech News

The Secret WWII Club That Healed Burned Pilots and Revolutionized Plastic Surgery

One of the most exclusive clubs in Great Britain is not full of hereditary peers and socialites, but instead counts former pilots and servicemen as its chief members. It’s called the Guinea Pig Club and membership dues are steep. In order to join the Guinea Pig Club you had to have at least two reconstructive … Continued

SciencePhysics & Chemistry

The Real-Life Scientific Dilemma Behind the Latest Episode of Manhattan

On the latest episode of Manhattan, the physicists assigned to developing the gun model design for the atomic bomb hit a major obstacle that threatens to sink the gun model for good. It’s a dilemma ripped straight from the history books, along with the eventual solution. There were two different bomb designs developed as part … Continued

Tech News

How 17th Century Artists Helped Make the Microscopic World Visible

Science fans love to nerd-gas when it comes to popular culture. Witness the countless recent articles analyzing the science versus the storytelling of The Martian. That tension between accuracy and artistic license is not unique to modern society. It’s been present throughout history, including depictions of the earliest observations made with microscopes. As part of … Continued

io9

Are Stories and Histories the Same Thing?

European languages often use the same word for “story” and “history,” but many English speakers regard these words as antonyms. But how different are they really? At The Last Word on Nothing, Ann Finkbeiner asked some practicing PhD historians for their opinions. Philadelphia-based writer, editor, and historian Audra Wolfe opens the conversation with this response: … Continued

ScienceHealth

The U.S. Doctor Who Infected 1,300 Guatemalan Patients With STDs 

In the 1940s, a young American doctor went to Guatemala to do medical experiments. He was funded by the venerable U.S. National Institutes of Health, but he did not make anyone healthy. Instead, he deliberately exposed 1,300 people to sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. John C. Cutler was no mad scientist. His experiments exposing prostitutes, prisoners … Continued

Tech News

Harvard’s “Frankenstein:” The 70s Controversy Over Mixing DNA

In the 1970s, two inhuman creatures—one hairy and tall, another with orange eyes—were spotted in New England. The mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, blamed these monsters not on unreliable testimonies, but recombinant DNA technology, then a new and promising laboratory technique. This outrageous claim was leveled by one Alfred Vellucci, a Cambridge mayor who reserved a … Continued

io9

7 Real Life Forms That People Once Believed Were Hoaxes

The history of science has its share of biological frauds, cases where people fabricated an imaginary organism and passed it off as real, or lied about an organism’s behavior. Every now and then, however, a creature that is suspected of being a hoax turns out to be real. Top image: Berlin Aquarium mural of a … Continued

Tech News

You Can Buy This Window From the Manhattan Project for a Small Fortune

Bonhams auction house is gearing up for a big “History of Science” sale on October 22. Among the many intriguing lots is a slab of unique glass used during one of the darkest scientific pursuits we’ve ever embarked upon: The Manhattan Project. But don’t worry. It’s not radioactive. In fact, the Manhattan Project viewing window … Continued

Tech News

Marie Curie’s century-old radioactive notebook still requires lead box

Marie Curie made some of the most significant contributions to science in the 20th century. And as most people already know, she did so at a great cost to her own health. What most people probably don’t know, however, is that the radiation levels she was exposed to were so powerful that her notebooks must … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

An Intricate Typeface Made Out of History’s Greatest Inventions

When she was a design student, Khyati Trehan embarked on an ambitious project to highlight history’s 26 most influential inventors with a unique alphabet. Remarkably, each letter of the special typeface is drawn with a world-changing invention while also name-checking the inventor. The letter “E,” for instance, is represented by the phonograph invented by Edison. … Continued

io9

New “comedy” video shows Einstein sexually assaulting Marie Curie

Apparently It’s Okay To Be Smart thinks it’s okay to be sexist. The science-themed YouTube show is taking a ton of flak after releasing a video portraying Albert Einstein as a lecherous old man who can’t keep his hands off Marie Curie during Thanksgiving dinner. The video, which was produced by Joe Hanson of IOTBS … Continued

io9

Why Freud Still Matters, When He Was Wrong About Almost Everything

He’s been dead for nearly 70 years, but Sigmund Freud’s provocative theories are still a huge part of psychology, neuroscience, and culture — this despite the fact that many of his ideas were mindboggingly, catastrophically wrong. Here’s why Freud just won’t go away. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Sigmund Freud was … Continued

io9

Was rabies used an ancient biological weapon?

Rabies spread by bites of infected dogs has been deeply feared since antiquity. But the virus also gave some people a rather nasty idea: Why not use it as a weapon? The main vector of rabies is domestic dogs, but wild animals such as foxes and bats can transmit the disease to humans. Rabies is … Continued

io9

Stigler’s Law: Why nothing in science is ever named after its actual discoverer

Do you want your share of scientific immortality? You can devote your life to mastering your field, examining the mysteries of the universe, and then finally arriving at one great discovery…but according to Stigler’s Law, you won’t get the credit. Stigler’s Law of eponymy holds that scientific laws and discoveries are never given the names … Continued

io9

Cosmic Pluralism: How Christianity briefly conquered the solar system

By the 1700s, there could no longer be any doubt. Earth was just one of many worlds orbiting the Sun, which forced scientists and theologians alike to ponder a tricky question. Would God really have bothered to create empty worlds? To many thinkers, the answer was an emphatic “no,” and so cosmic pluralism – the … Continued