JSTOR Daily: Where News Meets Its Scholarly Match

A hand holding a magnifying glass looking at pages with different fonts

Arts & Culture

The Font Detectives

For typography experts like Thomas Phinney, the history of the printed word is crucial to weeding out fraud.

The Digital Voyage

It’s Time to Break Up the Apple App Store

Apple's stranglehold on the App Store is problematic. Our technology columnist explains why.

Pedagogies

Are Students Just Telling Us What We Want to Hear?

Students tend to fill out end-of-year evaluations so as to describe a “narrative of progress.” For teachers, this is fast food of the mind.

Lingua Obscura

Are We Being Framed?

How the linguistic trick of framing shapes meaning--and can lead to deception.

Inception Machines, Weird Ice, and a Post-Roe World

Well-researched stories from Quanta, Wired, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Most Recent

Raking rice paddies in China with an ox-drawn plough. Engraving by J. June after A. Heckel.

Science & Technology

Chinese Peasants Taught the USDA to Farm Organically in 1909

A hundred years later, we are still learning.

Joseph Priestley, 1822, in front of a colorful background

Politics & History

Joseph Priestly, Radical Inventor

How scientist and soda water inventor Joseph Priestley came to be an enemy of the state.

Plants & Animals

Exotic Animals Don’t Make Good Pets

They might be cute, but animals like otters are difficult to take care of. Plus, there are ecological concerns inherent in removing them from the wild.

Plants & Animals

Why Forage Fish Conservation Matters

Small fish like herring and anchovies serve an important role in the ecosystem. If passed into law, a new act would protect these forage fish.

The Font Detectives

For typography experts like Thomas Phinney, the history of the printed word is crucial to weeding out fraud.

Photograph: Witch Bottles used for curse protection

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Witch_Bottles_Curse_Protection.jpg

Politics & History

Is There a Witch Bottle in Your House?

In the 16th-18th centuries, vessels filled with nails, thorns, hair, and other materials, were used as a form of ritual protection against witches.

A drawing of the Astor Place Riot, 1849, by Charles M. Jenckes

Politics & History

When an Argument Over Macbeth Incited a Bloody Riot

On May 10th, 1849, protestors rioted at Astor Place Opera House, leading to the deadliest civic insurrection in American history up to that time.

Long Reads

Science & Technology

Chinese Peasants Taught the USDA to Farm Organically in 1909

A hundred years later, we are still learning.

Art & Art History

The Delicate Science-Art of the Blaschka Invertebrate Collection

The Cornell Collection of Blaschka Invertebrate Models includes hundreds of glass models of sea creatures, making it both a teaching tool and a metaphor.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan in The Great Gatsby, 2013

Arts & Culture

What The Great Gatsby Reveals About The Jazz Age

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel embraced jazz, while also falling prey to the racist caricatures associated with it.

A black and white image of a person trapped behind glass

Business & Economics

How YouTube Is Shaping the Future of Work

Americans expect our jobs to provide us with not just money but fulfillment. For many, YouTube represents exactly that promise.

Editors' Picks

Politics & History

The History of Outlawing Abortion in America

Abortion was first criminalized in the U.S. in the mid-19th century. A key argument was that too many white women were ending their pregnancies.

Politics & History

How Pleasure Lulls Us into Accepting Surveillance

The domestication of surveillance technology has caused big legal and ethical implications for security on both a personal and a social scale.

Science & Technology

Fish Are Smarter Than You Think

Fish intelligence? Yes, many studies have documented the ability of fish to learn from their environment. Fish exposed to a more complicated environment have an edge in learning.

Politics & History

A Precedent for Today’s Political Violence

Illegal violence has always been a political tool, often serving the interests of the powerful. A historian looks at the case of 1930s Birmingham, Alabama.

Arts & Culture

To Debate a Mockingbird: The Literary Legacy of Harper Lee

Is To Kill a Mockingbird a literary juggernaut or a failed book?

Arts & Culture

Think Again

Rereading W.H. Auden, George Orwell, and James Baldwin in times of crisis.

Frank Capra’s Not-So-Sunny Vision of American Life

Capra's films are known for being upbeat and sometimes cheesy, but beneath the surface are rather dark stories of American corruption.

The Delicate Science-Art of the Blaschka Invertebrate Collection

The Cornell Collection of Blaschka Invertebrate Models includes hundreds of glass models of sea creatures, making it both a teaching tool and a metaphor.

Columns

Allegorical Groups Representing the Four Continents: America by Francesco Bertos

These Gravity-Defying Sculptures Provoked Accusations of Demonic Possession

Demons and artists, it seems, pull from the same bag of tricks. They take ordinary matter and transform it into something more wondrous, more terrifying.

A physician administers leeches to a patient. Colour reproduction of a lithograph by F-S. Delpech after L. Boilly, 1827.

Why Did the Victorians Harbor Warm Feelings for Leeches?

Medical authorities wrote about leeches as if they sucked blood out of the goodness of their hearts.

A power button filled with green leaves in front of a dark background.

The 4 Questions to Ask before You Unplug

If you're concerned about the internet's effects on the world and on yourself, unplugging might not be the answer.

A key factor in the anti-abortion arguments of that time was that too many native-born white women were ending their pregnancies, opening the door for the country to be overrun by fertile foreigners.

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Editors' Picks

A key factor in the anti-abortion arguments of that time was that too many native-born white women were ending their pregnancies, opening the door for the country to be overrun by fertile foreigners.

Join Our Newsletter