The Past
All Stories
The chances that a newborn survives childhood have increased from 50% to 96% globally.
Glimpse into the ancient Maya empire through the writing of its own inhabitants.
As a physician, John Pringle helped reinvent hygiene; as a husband, he destroyed a woman’s life with his abuse.
Stone buildings in northern India reveal secrets of old structures that could save lives.
To protect yourself, you need an antifungal rather than an amulet.
Left-handed humans were likelier to get stabbed in the heart.
One hypothesis: “gossip traps.”
And her clothing tells an important story, says archeologist Rita Wright.
Science isn’t synonymous with technology; it’s about a way of thinking.
Mongol forces never fully conquered the continent, but they played a key role in its historical development.
It wasn’t merely an act of brutality; it was a condemnation for the afterlife.
Zombies aren’t a modern-day obsession. Throughout history, fear of the undead led to bizarre burial rituals all over the world.
Fortune cookies emerged from one of America’s darkest moments.
His plan to replace it with homegrown rice did not go well.
Just like with AI, people worried about job security and the spread of disinformation. Machines were destroyed and book merchants were chased out of town.
When Mongol traders came knocking, Sultan Muhammad II shaved off their beards. Three years later, his whole empire was annihilated.
Most male mammals have little or nothing to do with their kids. Why is our own species different?
Climate and ecological changes, as well as disruptions to the food chain, were already killing off the dinosaurs.
She apparently learned some valuable business skills as a former prostitute.
Steam cars hit the U.S. market in the 1890s but were largely extinct by the 1930s. Will technology bring them back?
The cathedral is being explored as never before.
It is easy to underestimate how much the world can change within a lifetime.
Brian C. Muraresku, New York Times best-selling author of “The Immortality Key,” unpacks ancient evidence for the widespread ritual use of psychoactive plants.
Researchers discovered something modern humans had never before seen—a flashy Neanderthal horn collection.
Humiliating powerful people was not a key to success.
A new discovery pushes back the origin of these technologies by about 40,000 years.
From landscaped gardens to road systems, the Persians were among the first to create many things we still enjoy today.
Queen Calafia seems like she could have sprung from the pages of a modern fantasy novel.
The 1,200-year-old “Book of Ingenious Devices” contains designs for futuristic inventions like gas masks, water fountains, and digging machines.