It’s no bigger than a drinking glass, and it fits easily in the palm of the hand. It resembles a pepper grinder—or perhaps a hand grenade.

Here’s why the Mars 3 mission deserves more acclaim than history ever gave it.

Why have I come so far on a literary pilgrimage? I want to be unafraid to move in the world again. “Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?” Bishop asks in her poem “Questions of Travel.” Am I, like her, dreaming my dream and having it too?

In post-USSR Russia and neighbouring states, places now abandoned offer reminders of the region’s turbulent history

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — The Dayton Board of Zoning Appeals has approved the city’s request to demolish a 129-year-old historic building that once was the site of the Wright brothers’ first bike shop. The city wants to tear down the site because the building has deteriorated to a point where it can no longer be maintained and redeveloped, the Dayton Daily News has reported.

They really don’t make ‘em like they used to

In the summer of 1975, at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California researchers imagined what the future space colonies would look like.

The Justinianic Plague spread through west Eurasia between the 6th and 8th centuries CE, signifying the first known outbreak of bubonic plague in this part of the world. According to a new analysis of ancient texts and genetic data, its impact was much more severe than some recent studies have suggested.

From The New Yorker’s archive: a selection of pieces about notable shows and how they have helped transform our culture.

Scholars knew the work about Guillaume d’Orange and the bloody siege of his city existed, but until now believed it had been lost completely

Since the 1980s, fossil fuel firms have run ads touting climate denial messages – many of which they’d now like us to forget. Here’s our visual guide

Also: the Roman Emperor Nero was quite fiscally responsible about his coinage.

Ebou Janha, 102, is the only surviving veteran of a regiment of Gambian soldiers who fought for the British in Burma.

Homo sapiens migrated to the continent in waves – but the reasons for their early failures to overcome Neanderthals are a mystery

You can't see them from the surface, but they're definitely there. Scientists have revealed the discovery of hundreds of ancient ceremonial sites, many of which belonged to the Maya civilization, hiding in plain sight just underneath the landscape of

The coins and jewelry were found over the course of 30 years. Now, the Crown is determining whether it is legally considered treasure.

The Babylonian tablet may have come from an ancient exorcist's library.

Analysis of the mummy of a nobleman from the Age of the Pyramids suggests that expensive resins and fine linens were used, surprising experts.

From barbaric tortures and occult dessert dishes to unwinnable trials by ordeal, find out more about seven unusual tests once used as evidence of supernatural misconduct.

In October 1971, The Electric Company flipped a switch and hit the public TV airwaves, aiming to use sketch comedy and animated shorts to teach kids to read.