There’s nothing quite like a good night’s rest to recharge the body and restore the spirits. Today’s show looks at the science of sleep—and insomnia.

The controversy around animal magnetism.

In 1856 William Palmer, or Palmer the Poisoner, was tried and convicted in Victorian England’s trial of the century. The case also introduced forensic chemistry as a means of conviction.

New forensics techniques are allowing researchers to solve historical mysteries based on the small traces we leave on everyday objects.

A lesson in humility begets a scientific revolution.

An engraving in the Science History Institute’s collections hints at the ways art and science were intertwined in the Age of Enlightenment.