Distillations magazine

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

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

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

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

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

Reflecting on the trailblazing chemist’s fight for dignity and the myths we tell about our scientific heroes.

Restoring the legacy of a physical chemistry pioneer.

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

Can a White House conference muster the political will needed to address the nation’s food insecurity and obesity crises? A summit from 1969 offers clues.

Biologist John Calhoun’s rodent experiments gripped a society consumed by fears of overpopulation.

A scientist pitted hard work and ingenuity against the constraints she faced as a Jewish woman.

Forensic science can be a powerful crime-fighting tool, but misdeeds, dubious methodologies, and bogus claims threaten its reputation—and the reputation of science as a whole.

Though often celebrated, the adventurous First Lady never received full credit for her scientific accomplishments.

Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner navigated a life of science through war and peace.

During the War of 1870, astronomer Jules Janssen risked his life for scientific prestige and French patriotism.

Chemist Max Bredig’s race to save family and friends from catastrophe.

In the waning days of World War II, a psychiatrist raced across Germany to uncover the harrowing abuses of Nazi doctors.

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