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.

Satirical cartoon of Darwinism using a circus theme
People & Politics

The Case Against Charles Darwin

How the investigation into a grisly murder shocked 19th-century France and framed the scientist as an accomplice.

Magazine cover showing a man wearing a translucent illustration of a gas mask with the features of his face visible beneath
Inventions & Discoveries

Like Monstrosities from Another World

The gas mask’s grip on our collective consciousness.

Close-up portrait of an older man with his eyes closed
People & Politics

In the Shadow of Oppenheimer

How popular narratives of the atomic age obscure the bomb’s first victims.

Animation of people watching a fireworks display in Lake Havasu, Arizona
Arts & Culture

Chasing the Light

Pyro enthusiasts converge on Lake Havasu City, Arizona, for an annual event known as the Western Winter Blast.

Black and white family photo
People & Politics

Yue Xiong’s Great Leap

A promising young man from a politically marked family navigates China’s era of Maoist upheaval.

Collage showing natural history illustrations and newspaper clippings
People & Politics

The Problem of Piltdown Man

Seduced by a racist idea, archaeologists hyped an outrageous hoax.

3-D color diagram of human chest interior
Inventions & Discoveries

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.

Collage with illustrations and photographs with a heredity theme
People & Politics

Losing the Genetic Lottery

How did a field meant to reclaim genetics from Nazi abuses wind up a haven for race science?

People & Politics

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.

Health & Medicine

The Rotten Science Behind the MSG Scare

How one doctor’s letter and a string of dodgy studies spurred a public health panic.

Health & Medicine

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?

Health & Medicine

Fighting through the Fear

Lessons from the Polio Pioneers in an era of misinformation.

Large, damaged ancient Egyptian statue
Health & Medicine

Diagnosing the Dead

Can scrutinizing the ailments of historical figures really teach us anything?

People & Politics

Georg Bredig: Scientist, Humanist, and Holocaust Survivor

Restoring the legacy of a physical chemistry pioneer.

Health & Medicine

Does Louis Pasteur Still Matter?

Or will the scientist’s 200th birthday be his last hurrah?

Inventions & Discoveries

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.

People & Politics

American Fevers, American Plagues

How yellow fever outbreaks in the early United States anticipated much of what we lament about the COVID-19 era.

Environment

The Tragedy of the World’s First Seed Bank

Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov led an ideologically perilous campaign to rid the world of famine.