Distillations magazine

Unexpected Stories from Science’s Past

Controversy, Control, and Cosmetics in Early Modern Italy

In a society that damned women for both plainness and adornment, wearing makeup became a defiant act of survival.

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Distillations articles reveal science’s powerful influence on our lives, past and present.

People & Politics

How History Keeps Ignoring James Barry

After 150 years of scrutiny, scholars still misrepresent the British doctor’s life and gender.

Inventions & Discoveries

The Undying Appeal of Nikola Tesla’s “Death Ray”

Despite a lack of evidence, many have been captivated by the electrical whiz’s most mysterious project.

Cartoon of mechanic getting electricuted
Arts & Culture

Comics: Old-School Distance-Learning Tools

How the often-maligned genre was used to train soldiers, explain the weather, and describe the modern world.

Health & Medicine

Joseph Goldberger’s Filth Parties

A crusading doctor’s stomach-churning efforts to beat back pellagra in the American South.

Health & Medicine

Stress Baking and the Comfort of Connection

Baking homemade bread anchors us to millennia-long traditions.

Environment

The Sun Queen and the Skeptic: Building the World’s First Solar Houses

In the mid-20th century, colleagues-turned-rivals Maria Telkes and Hoyt Hottel engineered new ways of heating American homes.

Arts & Culture

A Silent, Savage Menace: Reassessing “Panic in the Streets”

Elia Kazan’s 1950 film noir finds new relevance in a moment gripped by pandemic and social unrest.

Early Science & Alchemy

Would a Book Lie?

The clues that betray a book’s disreputable past.

Woman at lab with instrument
People & Politics

A Seat at the Table

A recent collection showcases the famous and not-so-famous women who have left their mark on the periodic table.

Health & Medicine

Hashime Murayama and the Art of Saving Lives

A wildlife painter who ran afoul of xenophobic authorities during World War II found refuge and renewed purpose in the lab.

Arts & Culture

The Inventions That Made Us Who We Are

Anissa Ramirez’s latest book tracks the (sometimes literal) ways technology can shape our lives.

Inventions & Discoveries

Reginald Fessenden and the Invention of Sonar

How a radio pioneer transformed life at sea.

Health & Medicine

The Nurse Who Introduced Gloves to the Operating Room

Caroline Hampton and the forgotten origins of the first personal protective equipment.

Health & Medicine

The Story of Serum Therapy

How a 19th-century invention could save lives today.

large crowd outside in city
Environment

Philadelphia Earth Week, Fifty Years On

The successes and shortcomings of the first Earth Day in 1970 still reverberate.

People & Politics

The Dual Legacies of Henry Moseley

After transforming the periodic table should the promising young scientist have been allowed to fight in World War I?

Health & Medicine

Who Needs a Mammogram?

In the fight against breast cancer, entrenched interests and outmoded ideas may be hurting patients.

Health & Medicine

Medicinal Leeches and Where to Find Them

The rise, fall, and resurrection of the humble leech.