Infographic
August 12, 2025

This 5-Foot-Long Chart Lays Out Over 4,000 Years of World History

Throughout the 1920s and 30s, “outlines” were gaining popularity. Dominating nonfiction book publishing, the trend sought to democratize knowledge, distilling subjects like philosophy, physics, and medicine into more digestible and approachable formats. It didn’t take long for John B. Sparks, an English engineer, bacteriologist, and historian, to join the movement and create his very own “outline.

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Astrophotography
August 12, 2025

NASA Releases Closest-Ever Photos of the Sun Shot With the Parker Solar Probe

Since its original launch in 2018, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has completed several orbits around the sun, gradually moving closer and closer with each trip. In 2021, it became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona (the sun’s upper atmosphere), facing what NASA calls “brutal heat and radiation” for the sake of invaluable interstellar insights. But it was only late last year that the probe achieved one of its greatest feats to date.

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Art History
August 11, 2025

How a Man Born Into Slavery Became an Art History Legend

By the time the Union army arrived in Dallas County, Ala., in 1865, Bill Traylor had already been enslaved for about 12 years, ever since he was born on a cotton plantation around 1853. After his emancipation, Traylor spent the majority of his life as a tenant farmer near Montgomery, until he picked up drawing in 1939.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.