Mary Beard abused on Twitter over Roman Britain’s ethnic diversity
Classicist says her assertion that there was at least some diversity under Roman rule led to ‘torrent of aggressive insults’
The End of Sand
Yogita Limaye investigates concerns, highlighted in a United Nations study, that vitally important reserves of sand are running out, with serious consequences for human society and the planet. Nearly everything…
Medicine Is Getting More Precise … For White People
In the past, many of humanity’s individual variations were invisible to us, but today, new technology offers us a way to peer into each person’s genome, allowing doctors to personalize…
Researcher reveals how “Computer Geeks” replaced “Computer Girls”
as late as the 1960s many people perceived computer programming as a natural career choice for savvy young women.
Criminal Podcast: Bears, Birds, and Bones
As long as 2,500 years ago, Native Americans placed the bones of their dead in giant mounds of earth in the shape of animals. The Effigy Mounds National Monument in…
Tales of passion
Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, the definition of feminism -- and, of course, passion -- in this talk.
The End of Sand
Yogita Limaye investigates concerns, highlighted in a United Nations study, that vitally important reserves of sand are running out, with serious consequences for human society and the planet. Nearly everything…
The Beginning or the End of America
During Black History Month we share a letter written by James Baldwin, one of the foremost novelists and public intellectuals of the 20th century. In 1970 Baldwin wrote an open letter to…
The Lost Cause Rides Again
HBO’s Confederate takes as its premise an ugly truth that black Americans are forced to live every day: What if the Confederacy wasn’t wholly defeated? By Ta-Nehisi Coates HBO’s prospective…
The unexpected side effect of Trump’s war on science
There’s something different about the crop of Democrats running for Congress in 2018. As in previous years, the party has recruited a small army of veterans in high-profile races and…