Archaeologist Eric Cline has spent his career forensically reconstructing why the Bronze Age collapsed, and the answer is far stranger and more unsettling than a single catastrophic event.

Historian Eric Cline illuminates the 400-year period following ancient collapse that shaped the modern world.

Historian Eric Cline argues the Bronze Age collapse wasn't the work of one invading force or one bad harvest, but something far harder to stop: An overly interdependent system that had no way to absorb multiple shocks at once.

A preview of the latest novel by the New York Times bestselling author.

Sam Kean examines how rogue archaeologists are recreating the sounds, tastes, smells, and practices of the ancient past.

In this excerpt from The Laws of Thought, Tom Griffiths shares how George Boole developed a mathematical theory of logic.

AI is not a rupture in history, but a continuation of intelligence emerging where information becomes systematically arranged.

The revival of Pasto Varnish shows how living heritage can survive if knowledge is passed on in time.

Stoicism has been flattened into slogans about toughness, detachment, and emotional silence, a version that’s easy to sell, but mostly wrong.  Massimo Pigliucci returns Stoicism to its original purpose: a […]

Travel half the distance to your destination, and there's always another half to go. So how do you eventually arrive? That's Zeno's Paradox.

"It's much better to try to understand how the world works and then act accordingly. Rather than trying to impose on the world the way we want to think or the way we preferred things to be."

Scientists found a massive underwater wall off the coast of France that might help explain the origin of the legend of Ys.

Well before plants and animals, there were fungi.

In this excerpt from The Breath of the Gods, Simon Winchester explores how the Sumerians first named the wind and shaped our early understanding of the natural world.

“Everyone's image of [Ancient Rome] is based on modern movies. In some ways, I think those were rather impressive, but they got some things terribly wrong.”

The plan — conquer China and push west to attack the Ottomans — was peak imperial hubris, as the Spanish themselves eventually realized.

In this excerpt from "America's Most Gothic," Leanna Hieber and Andrea Janes examine the history and folklore of Maine's vanished schooner.

Proposed over 2000 years ago by Democritus, the word atom literally means uncuttable. Revived in 1803, today's "atoms" can indeed be split.

In this excerpt from "Seven Rivers," historian Vanessa Taylor explores how Ancient Egyptian pharaohs harnessed the Nile River to build empires and secure their power.

We don't learn from history because we can't learn from history.

About six million years ago, the Mediterranean was sealed off from the Atlantic, and over centuries it ran dry. One megaflood reversed that.

Astrobiologist Betül Kaçar on why the simple act of asking questions (without needing a reason) is one of the most powerful things a human can do.

"One of the ways you can see the Roman Empire is it's the worldwide web of its day."

In "The Headache," Tom Zeller Jr. explores one of the human brain's most enduring, and painful, enigmas.

In "Dinner with King Tut," Sam Kean examines how a burgeoning field is recreating ancient tasks to uncover historical truths.

Philosopher Meghan Sullivan challenges the idea that religious texts can’t be taken seriously in modern philosophy. She explains how parables, scripture, and debate have always been connected to asking life’s biggest questions:

In "The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs," Riley Black reveals the bold mammals that thrived in the Age of Reptiles.

A comparison of wealth gaps in ancient empires reveals stark differences and lasting consequences.

The Gospels aren’t historical biographies but genre-defining works that blend myth, theology, and a promise of hope.

From medieval myths to Shakespeare's plays and modern cinema, British culture kept the Roman Empire alive long after its fall.