The Past

Destruction of the Ukrainian dam unleashed a catastrophic flood—and surfaced centuries of cultural heritage. Now there’s a call not to rebuild it.

By the end, even his mom wanted him gone.

Bathtubs and toilets each got their own rooms until health professionals urged architects to put all the plumbing in one room.

Many countries’ histories are governed by the familiar demographic story of growth, industrialization, and decline. But not France.

These astounding inventions show that civilizations of the past were a lot more advanced than we might have thought.

“Burke’s the butcher, Hare’s the thief, and Knox the man who buys the beef.” Read the story of 19th-century Scotland’s corpse dealers.

Tikal, one of the biggest cities the Maya ever built, was home to a vast and flourishing society.

A woman’s name would undermine the credibility of the mission. Names of former Nazis, however, were no problem.

Discover how the threads of myth, legend, and artistry have been woven together by storytellers to craft history.

Serving as the inspiration for the modern horror classic “The Blair Witch Project,” what does our fascination with this unsolvable mystery tell us about our modern psyche?

The young and healthy were not just as likely to die as the old and frail, according to a new analysis.

Considering the astronomical occupational risks, life insurance was prohibitively expensive for the first NASA astronauts.

China has always been one of the world’s wealthiest nations, but Chinese wealth looks different across the country’s eventful history.

The Pan-American Highway began a century ago with a vision of unfettered motor-vehicle access between Alaska and Tierra del Fuego. What happened to the dream?

The Persian Constitutional Revolution made unlikely allies and enemies of missionaries, ayatollahs, the shah, and his Russian ambassadors. Its legacy shaped modern-day Iran.

In ancient Rome, collective bathing was the norm. In the West today, it’s the exception — and that’s too bad.

Was the terror of Biscayne Bay a man who escaped slavery, an African chieftain, or a marketing ploy that went viral?

The smartest person in the world was Isaac Newton, a true polymath whose brilliance never has been, nor ever will be, surpassed.

France’s notorious disregard for washing gradually changed as military authorities and public schools promoted a modern regime of cleanliness.

Australian soldiers fighting the Japanese recruited native New Guineans to their campaign.

The stench of death is actually fairly pleasant.

In an attempt to prove Christianity inferior to communism, a Soviet scientist hoped to play God.

In a world without clocks, people used common activities in place of time units. How long it took you to go to the toilet mattered.

Historians have been able to piece together a clear picture of how the average Roman citizen spent their waking hours.

His crime was so great, he was not only sentenced to death but his name was to be erased from memory.

Because the milk was thin and had an unnatural, bluish tint, vendors stirred in additives such as chalk, flour, eggs, and Plaster-of-Paris.

There are issues with Kinsey’s data, but his books revolutionized Americans’ thinking about sex and sexuality.

Still, the author’s main argument wasn’t totally discredited.

It is easy to mock Nobel Laureates who go astray, but eccentricity often accompanies brilliance. We should have some sympathy.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a medieval airship!