The Past

Einstein's theories of relativity faced fierce opposition. One critic claimed he was attempting to subvert the scientific method.

For a long time, important events could only be visualized retroactively through paintings. Photography allowed us to capture history as — or sometimes even before — it happened. 

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

A new analysis of an ancient hominin fossil sheds light on the "Out of Africa" dispersal events that occurred more than one million years ago.

Math offers good evidence that humans can solve any problem — as long as there’s money in it.

The Siege of Leningrad lasted over two years and claimed nearly a million lives. It also inspired writers to record the bleak conditions in which they lived.

Behind the scenes, Hitler had at least three disastrous relationships, including a short-lived marriage.

Dating of volcanic ash suggests the remains are at least 230,000 years old.

Despite losing most of his extended family to the guillotine, Tocqueville grew up to become a fervent supporter of democratic revolution.

Once numbering just 27 birds, the global population of California condors is now in the hundreds.

Many key inventions were unique: one-offs.

Scientists used 3D scans to analyze the corpse of Amenhotep I. They discovered that his brain was never removed and that he was circumcised, among other curiosities.

Distinguishing fact from fiction can be tough, especially when it comes to people as controversial as Stalin. 

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

Haters and disrespect aside, fruitcake is still a robust American tradition.

For consumers of festive beverages, the news is bad: this holiday season, Guinness may not be on tap and glass for bottling wine is scarce. Climate disasters, like British Columbia’s floods, have further weakened already […]

The German-American cartoonist introduced the idea that Santa Claus traveled with a sleigh and reindeer.

In her 2020 book, "The Alchemy of Us," Ainissa Ramirez explores how important material inventions shaped the course of human experience.

In America, Cup Noodles has succeeded by hiding its Japanese roots.

What was this mammoth tusk doing on the ocean floor 150 miles from land?

It’s all well and good to discuss how our humanity evolved – but what even is humanity?

Bears, chimps, or humans? A track of five poorly preserved footsteps at Laetoli has puzzled paleontologists for decades. Now, a research paper from Nature claims to have solved the mystery.

Today, every Homo species is extinct besides humans. But one of our close evolutionary relatives still lives on in our DNA.

Far from acting as the conduits of a benevolent deity, these religious leaders threw the teachings of their own church out of the window.

Missing link? More like the weakest link.

Washington believed that particular Thanksgiving in 1789 was a crucial occasion.

The early colonists thought they were being pulled by God into a void left by plague.

The insurmountable contrasts between their visions help explain Russia’s stunted development and hint at its destructive future.

The decades-long conflict is best understood not through secondhand accounts of historians, but the primary accounts of people who actually experienced it.

Fittingly, the skull was found in the Rising Star cave of South Africa, itself located at a site known to UNESCO as the Cradle of Mankind.