When germs made history

I n 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. That, at least, is what the famous rhyme tells us. Memorising such dates is a common experience of being taught history – a cliché superbly lampooned by the w

aeon.co In 2008, we “quietly passed a tremendous benchmark”, says Maryam Aslany. For the first time in history, the proportion of people living in the countryside fell below 50%. Today, the figure is

One answer to this question is relatively straightforward. For much of Greek history, people living near the coast or on the islands ate plenty of fish and seafood – not out of obsession, but out of p

noahpinion.blog Advanced civilisations sometimes really do just “throw it all away”, says Noah Smith. The golden age of Islamic science and scholarship gave way to “centuries of religious fundamentali

Lessons from the plague ships centuries ago can help protect our horses today. Fleur Whitlock MRCVS and Richard Newton FRCVS outline simple steps to safeguard your yard

What does your wee say about your health? Well, plenty – but perhaps not in quite the way medieval physicians understood it. Before the in-depth study of anatomy and physiology, establishing the cause