Distillations magazine
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.
Distillations articles reveal science’s powerful influence on our lives, past and present.
The Case Against Charles Darwin
How the investigation into a grisly murder shocked 19th-century France and framed the scientist as an accomplice.
Like Monstrosities from Another World
The gas mask’s grip on our collective consciousness.
In the Shadow of Oppenheimer
How popular narratives of the atomic age obscure the bomb’s first victims.
Chasing the Light
Pyro enthusiasts converge on Lake Havasu City, Arizona, for an annual event known as the Western Winter Blast.
Yue Xiong’s Great Leap
A promising young man from a politically marked family navigates China’s era of Maoist upheaval.
The Problem of Piltdown Man
Seduced by a racist idea, archaeologists hyped an outrageous hoax.
A Fix for the Unfixable: Making the First Heart-Lung Machine
Seventy years ago, a group of Philadelphia scientists and a brave 18-year-old pushed surgery to its final frontier.
Losing the Genetic Lottery
How did a field meant to reclaim genetics from Nazi abuses wind up a haven for race science?
Percy Julian and the False Promise of Exceptionalism
Reflecting on the trailblazing chemist’s fight for dignity and the myths we tell about our scientific heroes.
The Rotten Science Behind the MSG Scare
How one doctor’s letter and a string of dodgy studies spurred a public health panic.
The Murky Ethics of Wastewater Surveillance
By monitoring sewage, scientists can track disease outbreaks in near real time. But will the technology leave long-term privacy risks in its wake?
Fighting through the Fear
Lessons from the Polio Pioneers in an era of misinformation.
Diagnosing the Dead
Can scrutinizing the ailments of historical figures really teach us anything?
Georg Bredig: Scientist, Humanist, and Holocaust Survivor
Restoring the legacy of a physical chemistry pioneer.
Does Louis Pasteur Still Matter?
Or will the scientist’s 200th birthday be his last hurrah?
Magnesium, from the Sea to the Stars
Dow’s gamble on magnesium helped push the boundaries of human exploration and launched an ocean of consumer products.
American Fevers, American Plagues
How yellow fever outbreaks in the early United States anticipated much of what we lament about the COVID-19 era.
The Tragedy of the World’s First Seed Bank
Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov led an ideologically perilous campaign to rid the world of famine.