History

Visual artist Anna Von Mertens looks to astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt and her vision of the universe for inspiration

Violins, the ink on the Declaration of Independence and other ways that insects shaped human history

The Martian new year arrives with the Red Planet’s vernal equinox. Explaining why requires a deep dive into celestial mechanics and Earth’s calendrical history

In medieval times, astrology was considered a serious science, a branch of astronomy. Curator Larisa Grollemond of the Getty Museum, walks us through the medieval zodiac and how someone’s sign decided their day-to-day life.

Long before it orbited Earth, the Hubble Space Telescope starred in a famous Superman comic

A strange supernova remnant first appeared as a “guest star” seen in 1181 by sky watchers in China and Japan

On the Silk Road, these lost twin cities may have sustained themselves in a foreboding landscape with metallurgy and commerce

A gigantic space rock that slammed into Earth more than three billion years ago grievously wounded the biosphere—and then helped it heal

Computer chess champ; dental chloroform killer

Scientists reveal the identity of a cannibalized captain from the doomed Northwest Passage expedition of 1845 to 1848

Best baseball batting order; mummies demystified

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, owes his superstar success to self-satisfied competitors who blew obvious opportunities