The Scientist Who Created the 'Alpha Male'—And Spent His Life Trying to Kill It

The 'alpha male' ideal is built on a scientific mistake. The researcher who popularized the term based on captive wolves spent decades trying to retract it after discovering wild packs are simply family units led by parents, not a lone dominant leader.

Science & Nature Society & Social Issues Myth, Folklore & Legends

The Pentagon's Time Traveler: A Career Bookended by Decades

One man holds the strange distinction of running the Pentagon in two different centuries, first as its youngest-ever secretary and then, a generation later, as its oldest. His career, bookended by the Cold War and the War on Terror, charts a unique course through American power.

Biography & Personal Stories Politics & Power History

When the Sun Stands Still: The Surprisingly Modern Story of Lāhainā Noon

Twice a year, the sun passes directly over Hawaii, causing vertical objects to cast no shadow. This surreal event, known as Lāhainā Noon, has an origin story as surprising as the phenomenon itself, born from a public contest that reconnected science with culture.

Science & Nature Culture & Design Space & Astronomy

The Unsung Genius of Forgetting: How Your Brain Actively Deletes Memories to Make You Smarter

We treat forgetting as a failure, but neuroscience reveals it's an active and essential process. Your brain intentionally prunes old connections and overwrites data, not as a bug, but as a critical feature for efficient learning and mental well-being.

Science & Nature Medicine, Psychology & Health

Before the Luxury Watch, There Was the Rented Pineapple

In 18th-century Europe, pineapples were so astronomically expensive—costing the equivalent of $8,000—they were rarely eaten. Instead, the wealthy would rent a single fruit for an evening, using it as an opulent centerpiece to flaunt their social standing.

History Society & Social Issues Food & Lifestyle

You Don't Glow in the Dark: The Unsettling Difference Between Irradiation and Contamination

Getting an X-ray doesn't make you radioactive, but what if radioactive dust got on your coat? The distinction between being exposed to radiation and being contaminated by it is the critical, often misunderstood, factor in how radiation actually spreads.

Science & Nature Medicine, Psychology & Health Technology & Innovation

America's Kitchen Confidante Was a Corporate Ghost

For over a century, Betty Crocker has been a household name, but she was never a real person. She was a marketing invention whose signature, voice, and ever-changing face were meticulously crafted to mirror the evolving ideal of the American woman.

History Business & Economics Culture & Design

Solving for Stubborn: The Mathematical Riddle of the Self-Righting Shape

Inspired by the shells of turtles, two Hungarian scientists solved a long-standing mathematical riddle by creating the Gömböc—the first known 3D shape that, by its geometry alone, is guaranteed to always right itself to a single, stable position.

Science & Nature Inventions & Discoveries Oddities & Curiosities

How a Fake Shock Machine Revealed a Terrible Truth About Us All

In a Yale basement, a psychologist found that nearly two-thirds of ordinary people would deliver a lethal 450-volt shock to a screaming stranger, all because a man in a lab coat simply told them to. The results revealed a terrifying switch in the human brain.

Psychology & Health Society & Social Issues History

The Stubborn French Island at the Edge of North America

Just 20 kilometers from Canada lies an archipelago that isn't just French-inspired—it's France. Discover Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the last remnant of a lost empire, where residents use the Euro, vote in EU elections, and cling fiercely to their identity.

Geography & Places History Society & Social Issues