Picks From The Past
The Case of the Vanishing Caterpillar
A butterfly larva’s fate depends on who finds it first—its ant friends or ant foes.
Shakespeare in the Bush
An American anthropologist set out to study the Tiv of West Africa and was taught the true meaning of Hamlet.
Scrutinizing the Microcosm
Electron microscopy has shown the biologist a complex, new world.
The Crowninshield Elephant
The surprising story of Old Bet, the first elephant ever to be brought to America
Lost Continents
Ever since the days of the Greeks, people have tried to prove that thriving civilizations once existed on huge islands that have since sunk beneath the sea.
The Pearl of Allah
The giant clam yielded its 14-pound pearl only after slaying a native diver trapped when its great jaws snapped shut.
A Day in Patagonia
Collecting remains of prehistoric animals in southernmost South America
“Robinson Crusoe’s Children”
The Strange Story of Nine English Mutineers Who Took Up Their Abode With Their Native Tahitian Wives, on a Desert Island in the South Seas.
Monkeys Trained as Harvesters
Instances of a Practice Extending from Remote Times to the Present