Kat Eschner

 

Kat Eschner is a freelance science and culture journalist based in Toronto.

"Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. I was just catching up on my latest diary entry."

Samuel Pepys Was England's First Blogger

The famed blogger—okay, diarist—told historians so much about 17th-century daily life in England, but he could have told us so much more

Seven men tried to kill Queen Victoria during her almost 64-year reign. She wasn't amused by any of them.

The Eight Assassination Attempts on Queen Victoria Just Made Her More Powerful

People kept trying to kill Queen Victoria. She kept looking better and better

The doge's barge, called the Bucentaur, returning to Venice after the "wedding" ceremony. This painting is by eighteenth-century Venetian artist Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto.

Venice Has Been Married to the Sea for Over a Thousand Years

Happy anniversary, you crazy kids

The Maillard Reaction's best-known application is in tasty, tasty food.

Why Food Smells So Good When It’s Browning

A complex chemical reaction called the Maillard Reaction is responsible

Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island with their possessions in 1907.

The Centuries-Long Squabble Over Who Owns Ellis Island

It's actually the federal government, but don't tell New York or New Jersey

Bill Robinson as photographed by George Hurrell in 1935.

Three Ways Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Changed Dance Forever

Robinson worked throughout his career to make life better for black performers

Multi-generational fighting over borders between the Calvert family that founded the colony of Maryland (pictured: Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore) and the Penn family that founded Pennsylvania (pictured: Thomas Penn, proprietor of Pennsylvania) led to the creation of the Mason-Dixon line.

This Long, Violent Border Dispute Between Colonial Maryland and Pennsylvania is Why We Have the Mason-Dixon Line

Cresap's War was a conflict that didn't get fully settled for almost 50 years

According to Mary Sawyer's account, the lamb was a female. Sarah Hale's poem says it was a male. Sawyer is probably the source with reason to know.

'Mary Had a Little Lamb' Is Based on a True Story

As a child, Mary Sawyer rescued a lamb. Then it followed her to school one day

Can you tell which it is?

The 1870s Dairy Lobby Turned Margarine Pink So People Would Buy Butter

Margarine or butter? The question has deep roots, and you shouldn't even ask it in Wisconsin

Boy reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy portrayed in a sign. Although Tintin's later adventures are fairly innocent, the comic has dark roots.

When the Nazis Took Belgium, Tintin's Creator Drew Pro-Regime Propaganda

Hergé's politics have been the subject of debate over the years

Marie Curie and President Warren Harding walk down the White House steps arm in arm in 1921.

When Women Crowdfunded Radium For Marie Curie

The element was hard to get and extremely expensive but essential for Curie's cancer research

Still from the 1958 horror film 'Dracula' starring Christopher Lee. The character of Dracula has appeared in more than 200 films.

The Icelandic Translation of 'Dracula' Is Actually a Different Book

The mysteries of this Gothic classic aren't over yet

An illustration from 'Professor Dowell's Head,' a 1925 science fiction story from Russian author Alexander Belyayev.

Good News, Everybody! Someone Once Patented Plans For Keeping A Severed Head Alive

It was what's called a "prophetic patent"—one that isn't real yet

The Watts Bar Dam, one of the dams that is part of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Here’s How FDR Explained Making Electricity Public

"My friends, my policy is as radical as the Constitution of the United States," he said

An infantry unit with bayonets marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in May 1865. They are followed by three ambulances.

See the Civil War Through the Lens of Its First Photographer

Mathew Brady and the photographers he hired were the first to photograph a war zone

The unassuming face of one of twentieth-century America's most dangerous men, even to himself

One Man Invented Two of the Deadliest Substances of the 20th Century

Thomas Midgley Jr.'s inventions have had an outsize impact—not all of it good—on humankind

A posthumous engraving of Maria Agnesi from 1836.

The Witch of Agnesi

A mistranslation led to the unusual name of this mathematical concept

The original kindergarten concept had children playing with a series of toys that were supposed to be given to them in a specific order to help them learn.

A Little History of American Kindergartens

Songs, blocks and snack time (and don't forget a nap)

There is no one final theory about the original purpose of the Nazca Lines.

How a German Mathematician Took Responsibility for an Ancient Peruvian Artifact

Maria Reiche lived in a shack in the desert with the Nazca Lines for 40 years

Chocolate chips as we know and love them today.

The First “Chocolate Chip” Was a Molasses Candy

The name "chocolate chip" goes back much farther than the Toll House cookies

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