The president’s plan to abolish slavery hinged on winning a second term — and receiving a long, expensive telegram that almost didn’t make it.
Ainissa Ramirez | May 6, 2020
The founding director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and author of “Experience on Demand” explores the potential benefits of VR and the future of VR research.
The Editors | Apr 30, 2020
After bungling the 1890 census in San Francisco, economist Carl Plehn was tapped to run the Red Cross’s registration department in the wake of the city’s tragic earthquake.
Megan Finn | Apr 27, 2020
Empathy is a complex trait, like courage or height. Inevitably, some individuals inherit fewer pro-empathy genes than average.
Peter Sterling | Apr 20, 2020
In 2001, postal workers, for a brief moment, had a chance to reorganize how postal policy operated. But their health and safety was traded away in favor of cheap and fast mail.
Ryan Ellis | Apr 13, 2020
The authors of "Sulphuric Utopias" chart the history of ideas about fumigation and quarantine, and shed light on the origins of epidemic photography.
The Editors | Apr 2, 2020
Renowned scientist and best-selling author Vaclav Smil offers a sweeping look at pandemics that ravaged the world.
Vaclav Smil | Mar 30, 2020
Renowned scientist and best-selling author Vaclav Smil meticulously charts one of the single largest causes of non-natural mortality.
Vaclav Smil | Mar 27, 2020
Despite privacy concerns, “contact tracing” using GPS data may be our best bet to contain this large and fast-growing pandemic.
Shashi Shekhar & Apurv Hirsh Shekhar | Mar 24, 2020
When the French government announced a remarkable new invention by painter Louis Daguerre, American inventor Samuel Morse sensed its commercial potential, sending his imagination wild.
Sarah Kate Gillespie | Mar 16, 2020
