History

In 1958 Betty Friedan wrote an article that changed science journalism—and her career

Astronomical simulations and ancient Egyptian texts show the Milky Way was linked to the ancient Egyptian sky goddess Nut. This fits within multicultural myths about our home galaxy

Dragon bones, mysterious carvings and simple math reveal ancient eclipses

Ancient Maya saw solar eclipses as a “broken sun” that was a sign of possible destruction

Rat remains from shipwrecks and dig sites show how two rodent species duked it out in eastern North America

Ancient Egyptian mummies reveal what diseases afflicted people in the great civilization, as well as the protective role the Nile could play

A rare Islamic astrolabe discovered in Verona, Italy, reveals how the instrument passed through different countries and cultures

Chromosome cats; Louis Pasteur, master brewer

Hashish addiction; a pension for Madame Curie

Paleontology is rife with fake fossils that are made to cash in on illegal trade but end up interfering with science

Without adding an extra day to February every four years, our calendar would get increasingly out of sync with the cosmos

The origin of the decimal point, a powerful calculation tool, has been traced back to a mathematician who lived during the Italian Renaissance